Homemade ear shield spray?

[living4experiences]

I travel with Doc's Pro Plugs, vented and leashed, and Ear Shield. Just buy the Ear Shield. It lasts a long time, both in shelf life and the number of times it's used before needing replaced. It is well worth the $20 or so and not worth the trouble of a homemade recipe, IMO. You'll also have to design an actuator that fits into your ear canal to deliver the spray along with a pump to spray it.

 

[johndiver999]

I have had very good luck with 50% white vinegar and 50% isopropyl alchohol - at whatever strength they sell in the drug store. In my (considerable) experience with battling swimmers ear, using very high percentages of alcohol, for more than a day or two, will dry out the ear canal and cause irritation and make more problems than it is worth.

If I am diving a lot, I will put it in before and after diving. If you are in a warm humid environment, it is important to try to dry the ear canal, at the end of the day, with maybe a qtip.

 

[tridacna]

If I am diving a lot, I will put it in before and after diving. If you are in a warm humid environment, it is important to try to dry the ear canal, at the end of the day, with maybe a qtip.

Bad advice. Never use a Q-tip in your ear.

 

[MB NZ]

Doctor here, but not an ENT. It would be nice to get a professional opinion from an ENT or diving physician. In the meantime, what are you trying to achieve with these potions? If you want to protect yours ear before diving, solutions like vinegar will wash straight out. More viscous substances like glycerin or olive oil will be more useful in this respect. I can see that alcohol and vinegar could be useful for drying ears after diving, but proceed with caution, they can cause irritation which in turn, can lead to infection. As for gargling with mouthwash, I can't imagine how that helps the external side of the tympanic membrane.

 

[happy-diver]

It's truly wonderous!

yeah but still short of diving through mass spawnings

 

[tridacna]

Doctor here, but not an ENT. It would be nice to get a professional opinion from an ENT or diving physician. In the meantime, what are you trying to achieve with these potions? If you want to protect yours ear before diving, solutions like vinegar will wash straight out. More viscous substances like glycerin or olive oil will be more useful in this respect. I can see that alcohol and vinegar could be useful for drying ears after diving, but proceed with caution, they can cause irritation which in turn, can lead to infection. As for gargling with mouthwash, I can't imagine how that helps the external side of the tympanic membrane.

My “otic” solution is that of @doctormike - this has been described ad nauseum on the board.

Swimmer's Ear

This is a site by Dr. Michael Rothschild, providing information about pediatric ear, nose and throat conditions, and allowing visitors to contact Dr. Rothschild with questions.

kidsent.com

 

[doctormike]

Doctor here, but not an ENT. It would be nice to get a professional opinion from an ENT or diving physician. In the meantime, what are you trying to achieve with these potions? If you want to protect yours ear before diving, solutions like vinegar will wash straight out. More viscous substances like glycerin or olive oil will be more useful in this respect. I can see that alcohol and vinegar could be useful for drying ears after diving, but proceed with caution, they can cause irritation which in turn, can lead to infection. As for gargling with mouthwash, I can't imagine how that helps the external side of the tympanic membrane.

@tridacna posted the link for more info (thanks for the plug!), but basically, vinegar and alcohol solutions help with drying the ear because of the alcohol. Glycerine helps prevent overdrying, and the vinegar (a small amount, NOT 50:50) drops the pH making the ear canal less welcoming to pseudomonas bacteria, the dominant organism in swimmer's ear. They can also help with mild cases of existing swimmer's ear if there isn't a lot of debris in there that needs to be cleaned out, but don't overdo it. The vinegar can be pretty painful in a hot ear.

Topical oil agents help some people as well in preventing water exposure to the skin, but they aren't used to treat swimmer's ear.

The Ear Dryer (see link) is very helpful in preventing swimmer's ear and doesn't really risk overdrying.

And if you have a bad swimmer's ear, the treatment is cleaning out the debris with a microscope and suction, and then using antibiotic and steroid drops.