How to Get Rid of Swimmer's Ear

Has your daily backstroke left bacteria swimming in your ear? Swimmer's ear, a bacterial or fungal infection of the outer ear canal, causes painful, swollen or itchy ears or redness in the ear area. Other symptoms include mild hearing loss or a milky discharge.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Antiseptic Ear Drops Or Isopropyl Alcohol
• Medicine Dropper
• Swimming Cap
• Heating Pad Or Hot Water Bottle
• Hair Dryer

1. Use over-the-counter antiseptic ear drops or apply a drop or two of isopropyl alcohol with a medicine dropper in the ear canal. Shake your head to swish about the drops and then tilt the head to allow the canal to drain out. The ear drops or alcohol dry up excess water and help kill bacteria.

2. Ease the pain with a heating pad or hot water bottle.

3. Visit a doctor for a proper diagnosis, especially if the lymph glands are swollen, if the ear is swollen shut or extremely painful, or if a fever accompanies the infection. A doctor may prescribe antibiotics (drops or oral), corticosteroid ear drops to reduce swelling, or medication to reduce pain

4. Avoid swimming or submersion in water for at least 10 days after treatment to allow the ear to fully dry out and heal.

5. To prevent swimmer's ear, wear a swimming cap. After a swim, shake and tilt your head to remove water from the ears. If water remains, use a hair dryer on a low setting or antiseptic ear drops (or alcohol) to dry out the ears.

Tips & Warnings

• Swimming in nonchlorinated water increases the risk of swimmer's ear.
• Never stick an object, including cotton swabs, into your ear canal.

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[swimducky202]

on 10/23/2008 The very best swimmers ear recipe is 3 parts alcohol, 1 part vinegar. The alcohol dries the ear canal while the vinegar adds an antibacterial component.

[jimaird]

on 1/7/2007 Add the treatment with vinegar to the list, it is much more effective for treatment. Alcohol is the best daily preventative. Also the truest dianosis of "swimmer's ear" is the tug test. Pull gently on the ear lobe, if its painful, put the vinegar in 3-5 x/day until symptoms are gone (2-5 days).

on 9/5/2006 Sometimes you can get headaches from getting too much sun. Go into the shade with a fan and lay down.

on 8/1/2006 The key to not getting swimmer's ear is to know how to properly clear your ears each time you leave the water.

It's a 2 step process, that needs to be done in this order:

1) Bend your head and body forward, so that you are standing and you are facing your knees
2) Come up until your head is now facing the floor and turn you head to just one side, so that your ear is facing the floor. Pump your upper body a couple times up and down.

Before repeating for the other side, stand back completely erect. You may have to repeat this 2-3 times to get the water out.

If that doesn't work and you still feel water in there .. a couple drops of isopropyl alcohol will do the trick .. but do this right away before the ear canal gets irritated and inflamed.

on 7/31/2006 Growing up in Arizona, we swam constantly. We used a mix of half white vinegar and half rubbing alcohol. The vinegar is a natural way to kill bacteria and the alcohol dries out the excess water. This works much better than alcohol alone or a water/alcohol combination. It is great for both treatment and prevention of swimmers ear. My doctor recently tried to prescribe anti-bacterial ear drops for treatment that would have cost almost $100.00! What a waste of money. This remedy costs less than $1.00 for a years supply.