HI ALL - sorry - didn’t mean to shout - but I’m deaf in my right ear. Yes - I have total occlusion of my ear canal as a result of surfer’s ear which has result in pain and real difficulties in social situations/work. So - as you do - I’ve been reading a lot in online forums and have come to a few provisional conclusions. Feel free to amend/correct these as you like:
Prognosis:
The future for your ears is bleak. Surgery gives temporary, symptomatic relief, but the bones have made their decision - they will grow back. Even stopping surfing will not stop regrowth - this is a road to deafness.
Myths:
1 - This is caused by water cooling your ears.
Counterevidence - surfers from tropical locations get it, swimmers do not, neither (according to the consultant I saw) do kayakers, mountain bikers, snowboarders, Norwegians who swim in frozen lakes or Inuit. The doc said , however, that he had operated on two patients this year that were not surfers. But these patients apparently did not do any outside sports and only swam in the sea when on holiday in hot locations.
2 - Earplus will prevent it.
Counterevidence
A friend of mine who religiously used plugs all his surfing life, recently, got diagnosed with it. Another friend who had the op a year ago and religiously used earplugs since - now has 75% re-growth.
3 - Vinegar/alcohol mix will cure it
Counterevidence
I guess the theory is that the acid in the vinegar will dissolve the bones. This would indeed happen if there were no skin on top of the bones - however - this is not the case. I asked the doc about this and he said that that mix helps rid fungal infections but does not cure surfer’s ear.
Question:
Would placing a ‘stent’ in the ear canal after surgery (maybe at night when sleeping) prevent/slow re-growth? What do people think???
Silverback - there’s an extensive thread here about surfer’s ear - are you familiar with it ? You’re ‘prognosis’ runs contrary to a number of peoples’ experience mentioned in that thread.
My thinking is that surfer’s ear is the result of cold water plus evaporation from windchill. As you know when surfing on a windy day you can get colder faster then if there were no wind. Evaporation at work - If you take a thermomoter and put it in 40 degree water with air temp of 40, when you take the thermometer out of the water the indicated temp will drop below 40 - evaporation - the combination of wind and wet ears is powerful. The body must maintain brain temp and so it starts to close off the ear canal to prevent heat loss. 80 % of body heat is lost through the head. But the body needs to hear so if you remove the threat, the body, when sure it’s safe will remove the defense. Remember the surfer’s knots from knee paddling long boards ? - when surfers switched to shorter boards and no knee paddling, the knots (calcium deposits) went away. The vinigar/alcohol mix can permeate the skin.
I had surfer’s ear in my right ear and since I’ve been wearing a hood & cap it has backed off. Honestly how extensively have you researched this ? Not to hassle you but I suspect you’re fear of being permanently deaf has you being fearful/pessimistic. Hope you’re wrong and the mix is helpful for you as others have reported it has been for them. Good luck.
Forgot to mention that hoods/caps will give you greater ear protection than ear plugs as they cover more surface area with less heat loss through evaporation if well designed.
Silverback - there's an extensive thread here about surfer's ear - are you familiar with it ? You're 'prognosis' runs contrary to a number of peoples' experience mentioned in that thread.
My thinking is that surfer's ear is the result of cold water plus evaporation from windchill. As you know when surfing on a windy day you can get colder faster then if there were no wind. Evaporation at work - If you take a thermomoter and put it in 40 degree water with air temp of 40, when you take the thermometer out of the water the indicated temp will drop below 40 - evaporation - the combination of wind and wet ears is powerful. The body must maintain brain temp and so it starts to close off the ear canal to prevent heat loss. 80 % of body heat is lost through the head. But the body needs to hear so if you remove the threat, the body, when sure it's safe will remove the defense. Remember the surfer's knots from knee paddling long boards ? - when surfers switched to shorter boards and no knee paddling, the knots (calcium deposits) went away. The vinigar/alcohol mix can permeate the skin.
I had surfer's ear in my right ear and since I've been wearing a hood & cap it has backed off. Honestly how extensively have you researched this ? Not to hassle you but I suspect you're fear of being permanently deaf has you being fearful/pessimistic. Hope you're wrong and the mix is helpful for you as others have reported it has been for them. Good luck.
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the alcohol/vinger cured my ear canal growth..............i had less than 10% in one ear .........the other was around 25% open.
btw bill and kokua's advice i tried the solution and it worked so well that in 6 months i showed no signs of growth w/ the exception of scaring.
my canals are now at 90/98...........so much for your doctor's advice.
i've been dealing with this for over 30 years now. the last time i went in was for an ear infection, back in '89. doc wanted to operate but i said no way, they will just grow back anyway. he said my call, but if i showed up every month or so with an infection, it would be his call. i have not had an infection since, nor have i been back to him since. i wear plugs and a hood, and use 90% or stronger alcohol to evaporate the trapped water. this system has worked for me- the closures remain around 90% but the measures i take have slowed the growth, with no more problems.
1. water cooling, even in the tropics, once wet and wind blow..your cold ears also contribute to bony growth inside...swimmers are in the water and the quick breathe does not expose the ear canal to convection cooling... Truck drivers who drive with the window open get it in their left ear, even in warm climes
2. the outside ear temp alffects the bony growth inside the ear canal...your body is trying to protect itself..
3. vinegar, alchohol, and distilled water only used to dry out the inner air, so it doesn't convect from wetness..
4. some people are more predisposed to get it than others.
Norcal surfer, diagnosed in 1970 with 90% closure right ear, 30% left, non stop ear infections. Began using earplugs religiously, Proplugs ever since they came out, and a hood. Left ear now fully open, right ear about 40% closed, no ear infections in decades.
Solutions work, Proplugs and similar work, hoods work, and a nifty tool is the portable Macks Ear dryer (mini hot air ear dryer). Bring it with me on surf trips where I won’t be in a hood and may blow out an earplug, dries ear out immediately if needed.
Put my son into Proplugs when he started surfing at 11, and he wears a hood most days. Now 33, he surfs Norcal 250 days a year, never had an ear issue.
Myths - that nothing prevents or corrects exostosis.
Facts - yes, there are preventions and treatments that are proven to work
Its how I see it too. If you have the surgery, use a guy who uses a chisel, and not a drill. Can you imagine how loud a drill in your ear would be? Best thing I have ever had done medically, and the only surgery I am thankful for.
Actually, you don't hear anything because they knock you completely out. What sucks though is 2 months out of the water.
As far as the alcohol and vineager routine, do you do that afteryou surf or everyday or twice a day? How long to you keep the solution in there?
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twice a day......before bed and when you get up...........plus after surfs,fishing,hunting,snow rescue,meat locker..........any long periods in the exposed cold.
So I’ve been drilled. I was lucky - due to the size of my orifice (my auditory orifice - to be clear), the surgeon was able to drill down the earhole without peeling the pinna off Pain on waking was bad - but morphine’s a great thing eh?
A few interesting things:
1 - the surgeon said that propensity towards the condition is related to the diameter of your earhole - ie the bigger, the geater the risk.
2 - exostoses do not re-grow after drilling apparently –it’s just that more form nearby of you persist in surfing.
3 - the incidence of surfer’s ear has been increasing in the last few years as a result of better wetsuits - which mean more people surf through the winter.
4 - I religiously tried the vinegar/alcohol mix for 3 months - unfortunately this did not work for me. Surgeon said that this is a cure for swimmer’s ear - not surfer’s ear.
5 - Galley slaves used to get it.
I find out if my hearing’s ok tomorrow.
Thanks for everyone’s replies.
I have had the surgery and my ears are in pretty bad shape as well-it sucks. Interestingly, this condition is now poping up in high-altitude alpine climates. I do a lot of mountaineering, and I'm almost deaf in the ear that had the surgery until a day+ after getting back down to sea level.
Pain on waking was bad - but morphine’s a great thing eh?