First, Disclaimer: Don’t blame me for anything, try at your own risk, may dissolve your brain!!!
Now, here is what I do. I just whipped up a batch and thought I’d share. Have done this for years and got the OK from a nurse and surgeon I once knew. Take a 16 oz bottle of rubbing alcohol and add about 1/2 teaspoon (more or less, I never measure) of a pharmacy grade boric acid powder (not the stuff from the garden center to kill roaches). Shake well.
After every session I use an eye dropper about 1/2 full and squirt into each ear and let drain. You’ll feel the burn. Too much burn, add alcohol, no burn, add more boric acid.
When I was a kid my doctor told my Mom to mix rubbing alcohol and white vinegar, and drop it in my ear in order clear out the water. I don’t remember the proportions though.
The vinegar is a pH agent to make the environment less hospitable for bacteria in swimmer’s ear. If you don’t get infections the vinegar-less solution will be better. The glycerol is there to reduce drying and cracking of the skin.
These are EXACTLY the proportions in commercial drops (except prescription drops may contain antibiotics).
You can get rubbing alcohol and white vinegar at the grocery store, glycerol at the hardware store.
smokin what brains you have left out chip? this summer i got an outer ear infection after surfing infront of this pipe we call shit pipe because basically goose shit pours out of it, i poured in h2o2 and it was very loud for about 30 minutes, like firecrackers going off.cleaned out the infection though.
The hissing and popping you hear when you use h202 in your ears is the peroxide dissolving ear wax. It is usually not an indication that your ear is “dirty”, but does reveal that there is wax in there. It is useful in clearing out waxy build-up that can hold water inside your ear and result in infection, but also remember that ear wax lines your ear canal and is your ear canal’s natural method to prevent infections, so don’t over-do it as it could leave the skin of your ear canal dry and vulnerable to infiltration by bacteria.
I tend to not use the peroxide method within a day or two before surfing, but if there is obviously water stuck in my ear I will do a post-surf treatment and then follow up with teh vinegar/alcohol to kill whatever nasties might be lurking in the back there.
Hey those ear cones work good if you have too much wax … I like to rinse with peroxide first then use the cones … maybe once a year …
Honestly I’ve just been using homemade sippin’ whiskey to rinse my ears … but it does dry things out … and you hadn’t better be a smoker or you’ll blow yourself into next week. Maybe a little glycerine would be helpful to keep it from overdrying.
Ask your Doc about the peroxide, boys. That stuff kills the top layer of whatever cells it hits first, that’s why its a good antiseptic. Its a powerful oxidizer - which means burning.
You want to get rid of earwax, drop in a little olive oil, leave your head tilted for about 10 minutes, then rinse it out with warm water.
Any time your ears have been wet, you can evaporate out the water (salt, fresh, or chlorinated) with 50/50 rubbing alcohol & white vinegar.
I keep little bottles of both of those remedies around and use them. But stay away from the peroxide. And some of those other ideas - acid, really? - sound too extreme to me. Its like the guys who use Acetone to clean the old wax off boards…sure, it works, but at what cost to your environment, your health, and your wallet? Sunlight and sawdust works just as well…
Besides, between the olive oil & the vinegar, you can convince your wife you really did have a salad for lunch and not the super burrito you gulped down after that long cold session.
Ask your Doc about the peroxide, boys. That stuff kills the top layer of whatever cells it hits first, that's why its a good antiseptic. Its a powerful oxidizer - which means burning.
You want to get rid of earwax, drop in a little olive oil, leave your head tilted for about 10 minutes, then rinse it out with warm water.
Mineral oil is usually better than olive oil, cleaner. Or baby oil without scent added, which is the same thing. The recommendation for that, generally, is to soften the wax with the oil. You tilt your head, add a few drops of mineral oil, pack it in with cotton, and sleep on it. Everything will sound a little fuzzy the next day.
Then stop pushing the wax into your ear canal with Q-tips and it will work its way out naturally.
Mostly, if you leave it alone, the ear canal will generate its own wax, and push it out, in good time. The biggest problems (other than infections and surfers ear) occur when people think they need to clean the wax out of the ear canal with Q-tips. You can clear the wax off the outer flats outside the canal, but leave the ear canal alone.
Repetitive use of peroxides in the ear canal is definitely not recommended.
[I’ve been to the med-center often and a couple of time w/ ear problems. 50 / 50 peroxide solution / water in each ear for a few minutes. Then use a hair dryer to dry the inner ear well. You don’t need alcohol. The peroxide will take care of the ear wax, so after infections subside, only do this once a week, or once every two weeks. The peroxide will kill everything
I always get sinus infections when I surf in dirty water. I can feel the water when it’s stuck up there festering away. Anyone got any tips for preventing that? Other than the obvious… nose plugs. -Carl
Howzit wunderboy,I have been using the 50/50 % alcohol/white vinegar mix for almost 30 years and I can say it works great. I usually flush my ears with a bulb syrinfge first then use the mix to dry the ear and the vinegar helps keep any bony growth down. One of my ears was 80% closed from bone growth and after 10 years of regular mix usage the growth had basically dissappeared, blew the doctors mind since he had my records showing how closed the ear had been before. Aloha,Kokua
Not prevention, but to get the water out try downward facing dog…yoga pose that opens the flood gates of surfers drip for me. Gravity and relaxed breathing out the nose. good luck.
I always get sinus infections when I surf in dirty water. I can feel the water when it's stuck up there festering away. Anyone got any tips for preventing that? Other than the obvious... nose plugs. :) -Carl
You could apply a saline rinse after surfing to minimize the problem…
1/2 teaspoon salt in 1 cup water. Tilt head back, put 1-2 drops in each nostril until you can taste it. Then tilt head forward and blow into tissue.
VERY IMPORTANT TO DISINFECT THE DROPPER AND USE CLEAN SALT AND WATER EACH TIME.
