Ruptured eardrum after lightning strike.

[ram04769]

Hi BGWOJ. Just like BertStevens, I haven't got any different advise from what's already been given to you. So sorry to hear about your medical problem and I hope you can find someone somewhere that can point you in the right direction, if there is one. Best of luck to you and I hope things work out. Never give up!
Roger...

 

[northernone]

Saddened at your plight. Glad you survived though.

In an attempt to provide some lead:

This ambient pressure ear covering mask might help? Diving with perforated / burst / ruptured ear drum

I has 7 years unable to dive and freedive even until hole in my ear finally healed itself. Frustrating missing what we enjoy so much isn't it.

Respectively,
Cameron

 

[BGWOJ]

Hi BGWOJ. Just like BertStevens, I haven't got any different advise from what's already been given to you. So sorry to hear about your medical problem and I hope you can find someone somewhere that can point you in the right direction, if there is one. Best of luck to you and I hope things work out. Never give up!
Roger...

Thank you.

 

[BGWOJ]

Saddened at your plight. Glad you survived though.

In an attempt to provide some lead:

This ambient pressure ear covering mask might help? Diving with perforated / burst / ruptured ear drum

I has 7 years unable to dive and freedive even until hole in my ear finally healed itself. Frustrating missing what we enjoy so much isn't it.

Respectively,
Cameron

Thanks Cameron,
I looked at these masks straight after my accident but seemed to get mixed reviews. Also Doc Pro ear plugs with the valve. I wasn't convined that they would work well enough but I'm going to try everything possible now to get back in the water. Thanks again.

 

[Zef]

The mask and the doc pro plugs seem like a good idea and I had considered recommending them in one of my earlier posts but if they fail while your head is submerged you have a recipe for nothing but troubles. I am not a doctor so I have no idea how overstated or understated a problem it would be to have the middle ear swamped with water from a lake, quarry, ocean, etc.

-Z

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Doc's pro plugs do not exclude water from the ear so they would not be an option. This is not a product endorsement, but I do have a friend with a permanently damaged eardrum who has used an ear-covering dive mask with great success in a wide variety of diving conditions. A leak in such a mask could lead to middle ear infection, as another poster has already pointed out.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[Germie]

I know at least 2 divers who use the pro ear divemask with earprotection, and they are cleared for diving by a doctor. Yes it has some risk if water enters, but how often will it leak? The divers say never, I don't know. But think about it before you start diving again, it is a (small) risk of course. They use an hood over the mask where the earcaps are cutted out. So the risk for loosing the mask or enter water is reduced. It looks weird, but it works. If a diver kicks your mask, it is not lost. It will stick on your face.

Yes there are some risks when water enters. So think good about it. But maybe this is an option for you. Discuss it with your doctor of course.

These kind of masks are used then: Proear 2000 Mask kopen en aanbiedingen, Scubastore

Clearing a mask when it is full will mean water enters your ears maybe.

 

[gert7to3]

I think the OP posted something in the masks & fins section.

You may want to look into the IST Pro Ear Mask. This mask has ear cups which have equalization tubes attached from the face mask. This permits one to equalize the ear cups by exhaling into the face mask through your nose. It will permit you dive with dry ears. Without an eardrum, equalization should be rather easy. If you were to use this mask with Doc's Pro Plugs you could almost guarantee keeping your ear dry.

As Dr. Mike pointed out, Doc's Pro Plugs can let a drop or two of water pass the vent hole. This happens when you go below 20 ft/6 m. This is point where the pressure difference overcomes the surface tension of the water across the vent hole. However, since you have no eardrum you would likely be able to maintain equal pressure against the inside surface of the Pro Plug. In fact, (going out on a limb here) if you are able to readily pass air through your ear you could probably use the unvented Pro Plugs. This would be possible since you are equalizing directly with no enclosed space in your ear canal between your eardrum and the Pro Plug.

A question to the OP, have you been advised about obtaining a bone anchored hearing aid? Or did your injury damage your cochlea as well?