There’s two maladies getting mixed in here, Surfer’s Ear, and Swimmer’s ear.
Swimmer’s ear is a persistent ear canal infection. A preventative flush to use after swimming is 5% glycerin, 95% of a 1:1 rubbing alcohol/vinegar mix. The mix dries and creates an acidic environment in the ear. The acidic environment is unfriendly to the bacteria that normally grow in there.
Surfer’s Ear is exostosis, a bony growth in response to cold in the ear canal. The only known preventative is preventing cold from getting in the canal. If you have enough bony growth, the ear canal will have a hard time drying out after exposure, and you may additionally get Swimmer’s Ear. Standard ear drops for surfer’s ear-related infections are 95% rubbing alcohol and 5% glycerin (although pure rubbing alcohol will work fine most of the time - if the skin gets dried out and cracks you will know to add glycerin). Surfer’s Ear CAN close the canal entirely, although the persistent infections usually lead patients to seek medical help first.
Hardware stores carry glycerin, and the ear drops can be home mixed VERY cheaply, there are also several companies that make the mixes commercially for 10 times as much.
If you have an advanced case of surfer’s ear, the only non-surgical choice is zero water entry in the canal, which means you use waxy plugs, or soft silicone plugs, to allow ZERO water entry. If water enters, use the Surfer’s Ear drops (alcohol and glycerin) to prevent infection (Swimmer’s ear). Although there is no published medical literature on Surfer’s Ear going away, I am personally aware of several people who have adopted the zero tolerance policy and gone from >90% blocked to normal ear canals over a decade. So maybe there is something to it.
It is a slow process, growing and going away.
Vinegar CANNOT dissolve the bony growths, the bone grows under a layer of skin, and the vinegar only reaches the skin and will not be absorbed into the system.
There are a few approaches to the surgery - as far as Otolaryngological Surgeries go it is one of the easiest ones done.
As Keith mentioned, Q-tips in the ear canal are a no-no. They tend to pack wax more deeply into the canal, and the wax can block the canal completely and lead to bad Swimmer’s Ear. If you’ve already packed your wax, you can try to load the ear canal with mineral oil (baby oil), pack it in with a cotton ball, and sleep on it. The oil will soften the wax so your ear’s normal clearing mechanisms can get the wax out. It’ll take about a day for full effect, and you may hear a little muffled for a day, but no harm from it at all.
If you get the surgery, I got lots of refs in the Bay Area, and expect 6 weeks out of the water (you can do both ears at once to minimize the time out).
Avid water go-ers in cold water regions will ALL have measurable exostosis after 7 years, if they do not use plugs/hoods. I had a friend who got double-drilled after 5 surfing in Santa Cruz.
There are only very rare cases of Surfer’s Ear at locations that do not break 68F in water temp all year.
Disclaimer: I work with several ENT surgeons on research projects, but am not an MD. HTH.
