To all groms and grumpy old timers… wear your ear plugs and put on those hoods. Protect your ears!
I just got my ear sliced, flipped and the canal grinded. Not a pleasant experience. But as you all will understand the thing that hurts the most is 2 to 3 months out of the water!
Good call llilibel. I wear my hood religiously. My bumps have not grown in over twenty years( about 30 percent closed). Mike
me too! have religiously worn hood AND plugs for 20 years now.although 90 and 95% closure, the growth has stopped thereby preventing operation, which i don’t even want to have. a collge roommate did a study on this for his masters in medical anthropology. we went up and down the west coast interviewing surfers and testing their ears.as expected the colder climes had more incedences of this.two things i learned from the outcome from his study, and consequently others, is that:1. if you protect and dry ears the growth will slow down or stop altogether.2. after operation, if you don’t take care, the growth will return at twice it’s original rate.ie, say it took 8 years to point of operation, after operation, if you don’t take care, in most cases the time for operation occurs in just 4 years.
i may be a kook in my hood, but i’m preventing an expensive operation and lost water time…
Is this caused by the temperature or the pressure of the water? I’m curious since I’ve heard both from people. I keep telling myself I’m gonna start wearing plugs… Thanks for the reminder. I’m gonna try to pick some up today. I don’t think I could get used to wearing a hood, and certainly not while the water is 70 degrees!
It’s caused by the cold. Primarily the water evaporating out of your ears I’m told. Truck drivers will often get it in their left ear from driving with the window down(in the USA). It took a surf or two to get used to the hood. Now I feel naked without it. I lose ear plugs. Mike
I had over 95% obstruction in my left ear and 50% in my right. I attribute that the too many afternoon sessions as a grom with the southwest onshores! It took me over 30 years to get to this point.
I tried Doc plugs but would lose them in the first couple of sessions. Three pair at $12 a pop. Now I use “Plane” plugs, blue, baffled thingys. And a hood when the temps go under 62. May look ridiculous but this is definitely an experience I don’t want to repeat. One especailly cold morning I saw saw groms get out of the water and I told them to get a hood and they laughed at me. If they could see me now.
Oh well, I got a free avante garde haircut. Pics to come.
llilibel,
What a bummer. Well, if you had to do it, this is the time of year for it. mike
I wonder if a head/ear band similar to the things worn on ski slopes, but made of neoprene (especially the stretchy variety), would stay on and be reasonably comfortable. That would sure be more comfortable than the full hood in “warmer” water temps, and considerably less appearance-impaired (personally, I don’t care at all about the fashion aspect, but I despise being in rubber even one day longer than necessary).
-Samiam
cold water and wind will cause the growth, which is how the ear tries to protect itself from the cold.what’s worse is when water gets “caught” behind the growth and turns into a pond of bacteria which = infection.that is why it is important to dry ears out, especially if you have some growth/closure…
Check out www.surfmuff.com. I suggested he make one with a bandana print for the “vato loco” look. There’s some guy around El Porto (Los Angeles) who wears one and rips. At first I thought he was a Tibetan or something.
I’ll take a surf muff in hot pink. Or, is it pink muff, then surf? Sorry. There seem to be a lot of variety of hoods so most people could probably find something that works. Mine has the full gusset around the face. Sometimes on small days I’ll get out of the water and my hair is mostly dry and that’s swimming after my board, too. No ice-cream headaches, either. Water temp here is 52-55 year round. Mike
Check out www.surfmuff.com. I suggested he make one with a bandana print for the “vato loco” look. There’s some guy around El Porto (Los Angeles) who wears one and rips. At first I thought he was a Tibetan or something.
That’s the basic idea, but the “larnyx strap” would need to go. That would freakin’ kill me…
-Samiam
Your info bares out what I’ve discovered. I too have near complete closure in my left ear, (ear doc says its about a pins width), and 90% or so in the right ear. I had a south african doc tell me to avoid the op if at all possible because of possible regrowth. So it,s hood for 5 months of the year here in cornwall and ear plugs the rest of the time and so far no more growth and thats with mega water time too. I suppose it took 10 years or so to get noticeably bad closure, (by the time I was 20), for the next 10 years I was mostly in Oz and Indo and the closure got worse but more slowly. The rate of closure has stood still for the last 15 years with constant protection, shame I did’nt do it earlier.
Lots of people around here who have the op seem to suddenly stop surfing so much or stop just about altogether after they’ve healed, could just be a time in their lives thing or the affect of a long break. Probably just the people I know.
When I was a grom hardly anyone worn head gear during winter, nowadays just about everyone does. Apart from icecreamers no longer being on issue, maybe the surfers ear message is being heeded by todays groms.
They can grow back…12 months after my op, and despite wearing custom plugs religiously, they grew back. Would still wear the plugs anyway to at least keep the water from getting trapped behind the growths…
Sheesh no fun. I’m confused though, when you guys go surfing… your head gets wet? 
Yikes! 12 months later? Not 12 years later???
That’s not encouraging! Last night I was trying to wean myself off the painkillers so I skipped the dose before going to bed. I dreamed I was hanging onto a barracuda’s mouth getting my hands all cut up and when I woke up my ear was throbbing with pain.
Just out of curiosity Karl, how long did it take for your ears to get closed up the first time?
About 16 years, mostly in strong, cold offshores
I have finished with surgery, and the healing period on Ear #2- It was about 2-1/2 Months out of the water- (God Its going to hurt to paddle again). On the topic of re-growth- I to have heard many stories about how its going to come back quicker- Seeing as how I get to spend about 1/10 the time in the water that I used to- this might offset things a bit- (It took about 35 years for me to grow em’ closed) Plugs slowed thing down nicely over the last 15 years. The possibility of needing them re done is not something I would look forward to. Common sense says, protect them best as possible post surgery (Plugs, Dry the ears after a surf, and consider a head boot) Also Talk to your Doc and find out what his track record is for re-growth post surgery- My Doc (House Ear Institute on Los Angeles) Claims to have never had to re-
do a surgery. The Heal time was long, and the procedure was really intrusive (ear peeled back and then the Canal is re-shaped to your original configuration) But if it saves me another go around years from now- Its all good- To you younger guys- Wear your plugs!- This is one miserable thing to have to go through!