Surfer's Ear

Post by **Beanpole** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 8:48 am

The operation can be a prick

Funny how few people including GPs near the beach actually know about it.
There was an article about surf injuries in thursdays herald that said 40% of surfers in California had surfers ear

Post by **tube5** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:57 am

Hi KymE....surfers ear aint no laughing matter. You are either prone to it or not.....so if you are showing signs of narrowing of your ear canal then wear ear plugs. The plugs don't need to be 100% waterproof...all they need to do stop cold water constantly flushing your ears out. "Docs proplugs" seem to be OK as you can still hear through them. The worst thing about the operation is the fact that you need to be out of the water between 6-8 weeks. I had my right ear done in June 2005 & six months later it's fantastic.
As you can see from the pictures it's a gruesome operation....they cut you ear off...cut the skin from inside the canal & spend anywhere up to 3 hours drilling the excess bone out.....mmmm.

Post by **yanks r us** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 11:12 am

wtf thats nuts

whats the cause for the ear closing up. does cleaning your ear prevent this or wat?

Post by **Spoon** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 1:59 pm

Hey Tube5, did you get what I called the cicadas in the distance. For about the first 4 weeks untill they took all the dressing out I had that sound of cicadas in the distance continuosly.

Post by **tube5** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 3:47 pm

to answer your questions....firstly cleaning your ears will do SFA as far as preventing surfers ear. Cleaning the wax etc out may even make things worse. The problem is caused by cold water & wind around your ears....causing the bodies natural protection mechanisms to kick in...to protect your ears fine layers of bone slowly build up in the ear canal(called exostosis) sp?. Your ear canal will eventually close completely. Often the first sign you will get is total deafness !!! Anyone who has experienced it will tell you how incredibly frustrating it can be to lose your hearing like this as it happens so fast.
.....& spoon...yeah I had some ringing for about 8 weeks after the op....but it's fantastic these days. One of the weird things that happened was that my ear wasn't used to being so open & produced so much wax (huge chunks) that I've taken to surfing without plugs for a while (just during summer) to help keep them clear .

Post by **Hobo** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:31 am

Can you guys reccomend any good docs to do the drilling?

I know there are a number of docs who go in from behind the ear but has anyone had the procedure done through the ear canal?

I know that there are a couple of docs in the USA doing it that way with the chisel and it looks like a quicker operation with less hearing damage potential.

If you could share your experience of this or any docs on the northen beache s, would be awesome as I am in pretty desperate need of the op according to one ENT doc I saw last week.

cheers

Post by **Spoon** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:40 pm

Dr Frank Ellsworth at Mona Vale is the guy you want to see. He has done both my ears and operates through the front with only 1 stitch. Much quicker recovery.

Post by **heefcoate** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:22 pm

had mine operated on twice. i went to sydney to get it done by dr faegan in the cross cause i had a hole in my eardrum too. it cost me $5000 on top of full health cover. he is the only doctor that can give you a water proof ear.
i still use blutac. and the only reason you get surfers ear is cause of cold water. he said he is seeing more and more of surfers ear because people are surfing more in winter now.

and whoever got that stich job above is very unlucky mine was glued back and no scar.

so most of you will eventually get surfers ear. it sucks you cant eat for like 2 weeks after too after the opp

Post by **Chong** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:43 pm

Dr Phil Chang at St Vincents is pretty good.

I have had a fricken nightmare run due to leaving it too long to get one of my ears drilled. My advice is if you if have surfers ear and its +75% blocked get it drilled. The pain and time out of the water are nothing compared to decent hearing and a lack of other ear complications.

Because my left ear was over 95% blocked and when I got it done it was discovered that the ear drum was weakened due to one of the exotoses (boney growths) pushing up against it. My recovery was all sweet (as sweet as 3 months out can be). But I then managed to rupture the ear drum snorkelling when I was trying to de-pressurise (probably a very stupid thing to do), which then lead to a series of multiple ruptures after it had healed, another bout of surgery and all up probably at least 8-10 months of no surfing on and off over the last year. My ear drum is now OK although I have lost a bit of hearing and it squeals when I duckdive or get smashed (which is slightly disconcerting).

Surfers ear is a total cnut of a thing and unless you judiciously use plugs all the time is fairly likely to occur if you surf regularly (which I'm assuming we all do)

Post by **RickyG** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:34 pm

Well, I've been to the docs twice in 2 days with a severely blocked right ear. The doc looked in my left, said I had pretty serious exostosis, but couldn't tell about the right as there was so much crap in there. She tried to syringe it but it wouldn't budge.

By trying I ended up with water stuck in there behind the blockage so it was a lot worse than when I went in there. I was told to use waxsol to loosen it a little and come back. I used the waxsol and completely blocked it up! So I went back today and a different doc tried to syringe it about 6 times - no good. She got a more senior doc to have a look, and he proceeded to rip the wax out with a surgial tweezer thingy.

It bloody hurt!! Now I'm worried that I'm heading for the op mentioned above whether I like it or not. I've never used plugs before but i guess I'll have to. The doctor recommended blu tack (never thought I'd hear one say that)and it seems pretty widely used so I'll give it a go.

Bugger, wish I'd heard about this years ago (but I probably would have ignored it anyway

)

Post by **Chong** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:52 am

I would find a good ENT. GP's can be all over the shop. 2 Months before I saw an ENT I had a GP tell me my ears were fine and unblocked :? .

Post by **Spoon** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 1:28 pm

As I said see Frank Ellsworth at Mona Vale. He was good although 2 years since my right ear was done and it still doesn't feel great. 10 times better than it was but. Also go the blutack, saves you a fortune on earplugs and works really well. I keep a chunk in my boardies so if the wind comes up you chuck it in.

Post by **RickyG** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 1:41 pm

Spoon wrote:As I said see Frank Ellsworth at Mona Vale. He was good although 2 years since my right ear was done and it still doesn't feel great. 10 times better than it was but. Also go the blutack, saves you a fortune on earplugs and works really well. I keep a chunk in my boardies so if the wind comes up you chuck it in.

Yeah thanks, I did notice you mentioned him earlier on.

I sit next to a former audiologist at work and he's recommended a good one too (ie specialises in the E of the ENT!). Interestingly I was talking about this to him yesterday and he said he'd Never let a GP, syringe his ears, and certainly Never let one rip bit's of gunk out with an instrument

Tried the blu tack inthe shower this morning, and found it wasn't completely watertight. Makes me wonder how watertight I'll get it when I'm in the surf (i'm suposed to keep it completely dry for about 3 weeks).

Does anyone who uses it in the surf find they can keep all the water out? I have my doubts but will give it a go.

Post by **Chong** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 6:30 pm

Does anyone who uses it in the surf find they can keep all the water out? I have my doubts but will give it a go.

It doesn't keep all the water out no ear plugs i have tried do - if you have to keep it bone dry I would keep out of the water full stop.

Post by **elbows** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 6:35 pm

bluetac is effective and cheap but I havn't found anything that keeps all the water out.
bluetac blocks out too much sound for my liking. Ive gone back to doc pro plugs.

Post by **munch** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 7:42 pm

I went to the same doc as chong and found him really good

looked like the elephant man after the first one, second one was better, I think I was back in the water in about a month.

But after seeing Spoon's, the bowl head's scar I'd rather go that option for sure

And I didn't wear plugs for a while till II noticed they were starting to grow back, it's been blue tac since then. Blue tac's hard to get used to but worth it

And yep, I'd rather wear plugs like elbows but I always lose em

Post by **marcus** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 7:03 pm

it would be interesting to find out if east coast surfers get it in the right ear and west coast surfers get in the left ear more due to southerlies.

Post by **WANDERER** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:26 pm

I was told that plugs do nought to prevent the bone growth, they just prevent the infections and swimmers ear etc... dunno how true it is, my ears are fucked from just showering as the mositure gets stuck in there and I can never be farked with the aquaear.

Are there plugs on the market that:
a) fit snuggly
b) allow better hearing than blue tack
c) are waterproof
d) are cheap(ish)
??????

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