Maui Dive Buddy Wanted 9/14-9/22

[tboxcar]

I have been using the 'ear dropper' technique for years, an outback guide in Northern Australia gave me the idea while swimming fresh water lakes in Kakadu. This might be wrong, but I go ahead and us 100% alcohol (which is not 100% it turns out), I had a bad experience using some old vinegar one time, and did not look at the bottle and it gave me a 'nasty, nasty' ear infection that only anti-biotics could fix. But I use this mixture nightly after diving or after heavy swimming, sure does the trick.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

This might be wrong, but I go ahead and us 100% alcohol

30 years ago, doctors might have still recomended just rubbing alcohol. Modern medicine recognizes that the ear canal is not designed to be bone dry. Just using alcohol will dry your ear out and is better than nothing, but using it more than just occasionally will excessively dry out the ear canal and the bacteria that is already alive does not neccessarily die. As Kidspot stated, the 50/50 mix makes the ear canal environment unsuitable for the bacteria to live, by changing the pH. Just make sure it's not old nasty poluted vinegar.