RealSurf Surfers' Forum

Never used to have problems with my ears but starting maybe 12 months ago, i can guarantee getting water trapoed in my ears at least every second surf, if not more often.

Does this happen with anyone else? Is it an age thing? Anyone tried various earplug options?

swimmers ear drops

Happens to me all the time. Blu tak, especially if water is suspect.

Yes channels. I have this issue.
What have you tried so far? Have you been manually draining your ear after each surf session?

It's likely exostosis. The narrowed canal causes water to get stuck, leading to infections. So either get them drilled or get proper ear plugs.
http://magicseaweed.com/news/surfers-ea ... ruth/6276/

WHAT WAS THAT MATE!!

Tally-ho papers sucks the water out, swimmers ear drops to stop infection.

Only thing I've tried so far is the hopping on one foot to shake it out. I bought some swimming earplugs (speedo brand) but lost one on my first duckdive so wasnt prepared to shell out again to find out if they worked.

Might try the eardrops first to see if they work.

Rustt wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:15 pm

WHAT WAS THAT MATE!!

Tally-ho papers sucks the water out, swimmers ear drops to stop infection.

Tally ho's? How?

If you get proper ear plugs from an audiologist, you won't have any more issues (provided you happy to wear them). The exostosis won't get any worse and no more ear infections.

It's a pretty common issue and rarely is exostosis.
It might be worth a trip to the doctor to check you haven't got some gunk in your ear (wax, dead skin cells etc) that just needs to be flushed out.

I do a drain and wipe first, then ear drops sometimes.
Just whacking in the drops (like Aquaear*) without doing a drain and wipe first didn't work for me.

But I am very diligent with the drain and wipe.
Usually within a minute of leaving the water.
Tilt head and while tilted, maybe hop, pop ears (various techniques like yawning or chewing gum etc), until I feel the water drain out and then I wipe out the ear with a hankie-clad finger.

Then I do the other ear.
I might put the swimmers ear drops in then. The ear pop is what often moves the water.

This works for me.

* you can make your own drops with a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and rubbing alcohol, which is basically identical to the commercial ear drying drops.

Buy one of these at your local chemist and gently flush out your ear with clean warm water every few months or whenever needed. I've been doing it for decades.

I've used Docs Pro Plugs for many years. Comfortable but make sure you get the right size. Most surf shops and some chemists have them.

channels wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:17 pm

Rustt wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:15 pm

WHAT WAS THAT MATE!!

Tally-ho papers sucks the water out, swimmers ear drops to stop infection.

Tally ho's? How?

Twist the paper to a point and poke it into your ear as deep as your comfortable with, I get about 2/3 of the papers length in, rice paper sucks the moisture out. Life changer if your at the stage of only having a pin hole for an opening and the water closes it off each surf, instant relief .

Rustt wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 31, 2017 11:57 am

channels wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:17 pm

Rustt wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:15 pm

WHAT WAS THAT MATE!!

Tally-ho papers sucks the water out, swimmers ear drops to stop infection.

Tally ho's? How?

Twist the paper to a point and poke it into your ear as deep as your comfortable with, I get about 2/3 of the papers length in, rice paper sucks the moisture out. Life changer if your at the stage of only having a pin hole for an opening and the water closes it off each surf, instant relief .

So that's what they are for!

On top of the things recommended above (plugs + Aqua ear drops after every surf) I do the Waxsol drops to clear excess wax and keep things clean in there to avoid infections. A reduced ear channel plus wax= not good. I do waxsol every couple of weeks x 2 days in a row, just fill each ear and let the thing do the work.

Once I implemented all this I managed to reduce ear infections to almost non over the last couple of years.

I use the clear silicon moldeable ones, they seem to work fine, avoid blue tac..... I do not do well with the plugs that stick inside the ear as they tend to push the wax and block my ears.

Surfers ears suck and on really cold offshore mornings I do use a hood to protect further my ears from extreme cold exposure, the plugs and the hood work well unless you are too worried about what others think of you if you wear a hood , LOL.

J

everyone wears hoods anyways

I joined the exostosis club today.

What was that?