How to Keep Swimmer’s Ear From Ruining Your Summer

You may be surprised to learn that the shape of your ears can make you more or less likely to get swimmer’s ear, a painful outer ear infection. While there’s not much any of us can do about the particular curves of our ears, experts say there are ways to help prevent swimmer’s ear.

The infection most commonly occurs when water lingers in the ear canal. Despite the name, you don’t have to swim regularly to get swimmer’s ear. But the condition is more common in the summer when people are often in the water and when it’s hot and humid.

Doctors say the most important way to prevent swimmer’s ear is to keep your ears clean and dry.

Here are some other do’s and don’ts:

• Do use hydrogen peroxide. Clean your ears occasionally with a 3-percent hydrogen peroxide solution to remove ear wax that can trap water in your ear.

• Don’t use cotton swabs or tissues to clean or dry your ears. They can scratch the skin in your ear canal and make conditions worse.

• Do use a hair dryer. You can use a hair dryer to gently and indirectly dry out your ear canal if it gets wet.

• Do wear ear plugs or bathing caps. These can help keep water out of your ears. However, they can also trap water in your ears, so be sure to dry your ears well after swimming even when you wear them.

Why water and dampness can cause swimmer’s ear?

What is it about water that causes swimmer’s ear? Bacteria that normally inhabit the skin and ear canal begin to multiply in those warm, wet conditions and cause irritation, infection or inflammation.  The infection is more common in warm weather when people are more likely to hit the pool, water park or beach. Swimming in public waters that are heavily polluted or lounging in hot tubs that are not properly maintained can put you at greater risk of contact with excessive bacteria. But summertime conditions can take their toll even if you’re not a swimmer.

Allergies or skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis or seborrhea can make your ear infection worse. Also, diabetics are more prone to swimmer’s ear infections.

People can even develop swimmer’s ear from bathing or showering.

Best treatments for swimmer’s ear

Typically, you can identify a swimmer’s ear infection by redness and swelling of the ear canal and outer ear (the part that you can see around the opening), itching, pain, pus drainage and sometimes hearing loss.

In most cases, this requires applying antibiotic or antifungal ear drops. The drops need to reach your skin in order to work, so cleaning your ear with hydrogen peroxide, for example, is important.

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