Can someone post a step by step how to, on the method with 50% vinegar, 50% alcohol. Very interested in making this part of my routine in prevention. I think this would be a valuable resource. Thank you.
I am by no means an expert on this topic, but i’m definitely experienced. I’ve been surfing since the early '70s. By the mid '80s i had chronic ear infections, and the outer ear canals were close to 90% occluded. I didn’t have health insurance, and I talked a Dr. into doing both ears at the same time under a local. I could hear the chipping, suction, drilling, etc. it took a lot of will power to hold still, and the deep bone ache after the local wore off really sucked. A root canal is nothing.
I wore ear plugs after that and greatly slowed the boney growth process.
Unfortunately, the exostosis continued and i had to have one ear done this spring in 2012. the other ear will be operated on next spring. No local this time, I let them knock me out.
Technology has certainly changed since the '80s. my DR has a wide screen LCD on the wall, so I get to see in my ear canal in high def. the surgery in the '80s cleared the canal rather conically. the closer to the ear drum, the more bony growth was left in place. my last surgery changed my canal from a narrow, boney elipse, to a perfectly round cave all the way to the drum.I was back in the water within 6 weeks.
The Dr I see is not an ear, nose & throat guy. He is a Neurotology/Skull Base Specialist, and he has done hundreds of surfers and divers ears. I highly recommend him. if you live in the greater San Diego area, and are interested, send me a PM, and I can give you his contact info.
Some sage advise I have to offer is:
-
Wear ear plugs, mine are custom molded to my ears, not over the counter.
-
Wear a hood in sub 60 degree water
-
Always flush your ears with fresh water after surfing, swimming in a pool, river, or lake.
-
Never, ever, put alcohol in your ears. It drys the wax, and has to be scraped off, rather than suctioned out. you’ll bleed.
-
Stay away from Qtips, it pushes wax to the drum, and the Dr. can tell.
-
For ear cleaning maintainance, put shampoo in your ears, when you do your hair. rinse out thoroughly. It sounds crazy, but it works, it was the Dr’s advise.
-
Get health insurance, most specialists can’t touch you without it.
-
Smile in the water!
Adios,
How often do eskimoes submerge their heads?
Ancient peruvian Mummies, the coastal dwellers and fisherman show signs of EAE. They had to punch through the lineup to fish. How oftern do you think they kept their heads dry? I think in the arctic, Eskimoes would consider a head/ total body dunking a death sentence. I would not expect an Eskimo to have EAE.
From ages 13 to 24 I surfed year round and often in the NE. By age 36, I had been wearing ear plugs for 12 years religiously and using distilled vinegar and alcohol drops post surf for 16 years.
The initial consult with my surgeon, he said he had only seen 3 worse cases, from guys 20 years older than myself. He listed the closure on my left ear at 100%, my right ear at 99%.
Surgery was about 10k dollars when all was said and done, just for my left ear. The Surgeon said most surgeries take about 50 minutes, mine was close to 3 hours. Said most surfers growth’s were like The Islands growing arond the perimeter of the Canal, My canals were the Andes, he’s chisel out one peak, and find another one right behind it, all the way back to the drum, all around the perimeter.
My right ear still needs surgery, but has not been infected since I got the left ear drilled out. It was always my left ear that would get infected first, then my right shortly afterward, and I would be nearly deaf for a week or two. The only things I could hear were my heart beating and my bones creaking. No antibiotic ear drops could get past the infection for days. I had to take oral AB’s for days before I could get the drops inside.
Very Dark days. I was not able to surf for weeks when I was travelling in both Oz and Southern Africa. Imagine watching 6 foot J bay peeling off while each ear is closed shut and throbbing and you can’t hear anything but your own heart beat.
When I was shoppnig for surgeons, lack of insurance had more than one hang up on me.
Don’t hope for genetics to have given you well insulated ear canals. Keep the majority of howling wind out of your ears, use plugs and sterilize them every few surfs, and use drops in each ear soon as you can. Don’t just put in a drop or 2 and call it good. Turn your head to the side, pull your ear lobe down and fill your canal and let it gravity pull it into all the nooks and crannies for several seconds, then do the same to the other ear.
If it burns, you have either surfed 3 times that day, or already have an infection brewing.
If I could go back in time to my teen years and tell myself 3 things, it would be to:
-
stretch more
-
wear ear plugs/ hood whenever sub 60 degrees,
-
get more pussy.
BUMP UP. I told a fellow about this forum, and about this, and similar threads. Bringing it up to make it easy for him to find. Newer members may find the content worth a look/see too.
Don't know that method but do know that for prevention docs pro plugs really work. Used to be agony at times, and was getting worse year on year, been using pro plugs for 2 blissful years of no earache now
My doctor noticed one of my ears slightly closing up (I’m 33) and he told me what the Navy seals use. 1/3 Water, 1/3 alcohol, 1/3 vinegar. The alcohol evaporates the water already in there, the water keeps your ear moist, the vinegar prevents fungal growth. He told me put a drop in each ear before and after a session. Leave the drops in for 30 seconds. I always forget to put them in before but always put them in after and it really does help.
Sorry to tell you this, but drops will not prevent surfer’s ear. Surfer’s ear is caused by exposure to cold water. To prevent surfer’s ear you need to keep your ears warm- use plugs and a hood. I’ve had no luck with Doc Pro Plugs. I lose them. I use “Earplanes” but they are uncomfortable after a while. The hood is my best option (even if it makes me look like a squid).
I’ve had one ear drilled and as for the other, the Doc says, “Anytime you’re ready…” It’s 90% obstructed.
The Doc did advise the 50% rubbing alcohol, 50% distilled white vinegar as a way of preventing ear infections. When you have surfer’s ear the ocean water and its accompanying bacteria can get trapped more easily in your ear. The way I understood it was- I can put off the surgery as long as I want. As long as there is enough of an opening for the surgeon to see the ear drum while drilling, the surgery is pretty fail safe. It gets dicey if the ear canal is so closed that the surgeon can no longer see the ear drum. Then there is the risk of drilling into the ear drum which, as you can imagine, is a very bad scenario. So I’m kind of at that point.
The really bad case scenario according to my Doc is if I get an ear infection in my bad ear. The swelling can cause the ear canal to swell shut, making treatment with antibiotic drops impossible. The infection gets worse. If oral anti biotics don’t work (and they are less effective than the drops) then they are forced to operate under the bad case scenario- unable to see the ear drum. For that reason I always use the drops.
By the way, my Doc was the late Dr. De la Cruz at the House Ear Institute. I guess the House Ear Institute is highly respected in the field.
yep. cold wind and cold water will create this growth in the ear. best remedy is plugs plus hood. i use 97% rubbing alcohol to help dry out any water that may get in there. this system has worked for me for about 25 years now-that's the last time i visited an ear doc. i had an infection due to trapped water. he wanted to drill then and there but i told him i'd rather try some preventive measures first and 25 years later still doing ok. keeping them covered from wind and water best you can is key. also, with prevention you can retard the growth in the ear.
Doc’s pro plugs work! But you need to be sized! Most surf shops have the kit, it’s a little weird to get use to them but now I don’t even swim in a pool without them! I’ve had the operation 3x ….not fun
+1 and I use to lose them too until I got a swivel hook and to attach my plugs and then hook to my wetsuit zipper.
I use a hood (squid lid) when its cold, silicone plugs more or less all the time (I never could get a comfortable fit with the Doc’s plugs)
http://www.macksearplugs.com/products/pillow-soft-earplugs-6-pair-value
and a Mack’s ear dryer when I get out of the water:
http://www.dryear.net/How_the_DryEar_Ear_Dryer_Works_s/26.htm
have avoided the surgery so far…
Thanks for the replies. Kokua you out there? I know you responded to a similar question before, the description given was a little hard to make sense of, for me. In a step-by-step manner.
I just got a full suit and I notice the hood traps some water and then suctions to my head which I feel is trapping the water in my ear. I hate to use plugs, but I guess I’ll get used to it. I like to be able to hear in the lineup, but better safe than sorry I guess.
The ear dryer looks cool. My ENT told me not to put anything in my ear, but just use the hair dryer on low to dry out my ears after every session.
I wear a hood when it’s cold, but I hole punched about three holes on each side so the water can drain out.
I also am going to start wearing one ear plug and alternate ears, so I can hear somewhat when I surf (learned that from a student of mine).
the ear dryer is rechargable, so handy in the car. Blows warm air in cycles until your ears are dry. I sometimes use drops, but the warm air always works.
I usually only put a plug in one ear (the side with the worst damage) and that helps hear out of the other ear.
I’ve always used Blu Tack if I wanted to keep my ears dry.
Isn’t half the reason you get surfers ear is from cold weather/air blasting you all the time? and that is why the bone grows?
Hozit pico,I am here and ready to help. First off the drops will work and Herb is living proof other that it works. The thing is to get a big ear bulb syringe and while showering fill it with water that is hot but not burning hot since you want to clean the wax out of the ear with it as the first step. Then when you get out of the shower use the dropper full of mix and put in the ear and let it get down into the ear canal as deep as posible, hopefully to the drum. after about 30 seconds flip you head so it can drain out and do he other ear the same way. If your ears are really bad do this every day for months or at least every other day. The vinegar eats away the calcium growths( bony growths) and the ears need to have no wax so it can soak into the canal flesh and get to the bone. The alcohol dries the water. My ENT checked mine and told me he could see he scar tissue from where the growths had been and he was the same ENT who 30 years earlier wanted to take pictures and put them in a medical journal because they were so bad. I never knew how long it took for the mix to work because it was 10 years before I went to another ENT for a hearing check and he told me my ears looked clear. It was Herb who told me it took only 3 months and his were already half cleared already and his ENT wanted to know what he was doing because it was working great and non invasive. To have Herb tell me how fast it was working was great news to hear and great to know he was getting better. I have a nephew who has ear problems and I make it up for him and he swears by it as the only thing that works. Ask Bill T.about it since he is a believer and uses it. I have always been into alternative treatments and Hawaiian healing herbs and there are cures out there that blow away western medicine treatments and drugs off the map. There is a herb that most think is a weed that grows all over that will get rid on staph infection faster than any shot or anti biotic on the market and I am trying to get it to grow here from seed but may have to get some and transplant it but I want it growing where I live. It is also used for gout and many other things and just tastes good in salads. Its a plantain and the indians turned the pilgrams on to it for medical help way back then. I do know that some of the strong ear med drops will stop working after to much use and then there is nothing left to use as far as the doctors are concerned. I try to stay away from anti biotics and until I had the cancer ops I had gone went 40 years with out using them.Feel free to get in touch any time. I have a chiropractor friend who calls me the local witch doctor.Aloha,Kokua
Hi Kokua,
That herb sounds pretty interesting - I get gout (off topic i know!) whenever my diet gets away from me and just wondered if you had any more info? ( the pills that help me are pretty heavy on the stomach!)
Does anyone get tinnitus (ringing in the ears) from surfers ear or just being in the waves and wind???
I get it pretty bad the past year - but i work a lot with music too and that doesn't help either....
cheers....
Thanks to Kokua, as well as all others who replied. Much appreciated. Plantains huh. Pretty tasty too. Love to do a seed swap. Though it gets pretty chilly up here.
Howzit pico, The plantains I am referring to are not the ones like bananas, but a leaf. Go to the library and find a book on medicinal herbs and see if they show a plant named Lokahi since that is the Hawaiian name for it. If they don't show lokahi then look up plantain leaf. Back in the 70's I took a trip up north ( actually stopped in Bodega bay and ate) and on the way home we took Hwy 1 and pulled over to loo at the ocean and I looked down and there it was growing just on the other side of the railing. I don't think the cold is a factor since it grows in Canada and every state in the US. I thinkmy problem was trying to start it in temps over 110 degrees and the wrong type of dirt. I don't think we even have plain old dirt here just desert. When it comes to treating gout I am not really sure how it i prepped since you can eat it right off the plant or pull the whole plant with the roots and dry it and make tea and drink that. If you scrape the bark off a lehua flower plant and makea poultice from it, you acn apply it to a tooth ache and it will not only stop the pain but it will kill the root which kills the tooth. when you think about the most painful part of a root canal it he part where they kill the root, this would be a painless way to start the process. Maybe try googling Hawaiian medicinal herbs. Aloha,Kokua
I have Docs Pro Plugs which are pretty good but I'm not totally convinced by them. I've gone back to using White Tack - same as Blu Tack but softer which is better for cold temps - and it is the only thing that I know of that definitely stays in your ear and keeps them warm too and the water out. In mid winter the water is 6 degrees here and the wind can be biting cold so kind of needed!!