With everyone heading back to the pool and the beach, it’s the season for the common ailment called swimmer’s ear. It’s certainly not a serious problem, but it can ruin your summer fun. Now there are new recommendations on how to manage the problem. Yes, swimmer’s ear is an ear infection, but it’s not the same as an ear infection little kids get, say, after a cold. That’s an otitis media--an infection of the middle ear. Realize, there is an inner ear, with the nerves that give us balance and hearing, and the middle ear with the bones that transmit sounds to those nerves. And then there’s the outer ear--the ear canal--everything outside the ear drum.
That’s where swimmer’s ear occurs. How do you know? Stick your finger in; if it makes you want to jump, that’s swimmer’s ear. Poor Seth Hochberg knows about it all too well. “Seth has had swimmers ear, ear infections repeatedly right through being a baby, infant and more recently I would say once a year in the last three years,” says Seth’s mom, Ilsa.
Seth recalls, “I went to an overnight and day camp and then well the first day I went swimming a lot and then I went to sleep the next day when I went swimming that day I felt a pain in my ear.” Yes, it can be that bad. That’s why there are new guidelines on how best to manage swimmers ear. “If you have swimmers ear it is not the time to self treat, there are over the counter products they are not very effective and they will only work in very mild cases,” SAYS Dr. Richard Rosenfeld, an Ear, nose, and Throat (ENT) specialist at Long Island College Hospital.
Swimmer’s ear is an infection of the ear canal, caused by bacterial growth. This happens when there is a lot of exposure to water—for instance, with a lot of swimming--which washes away the protective earwax, giving the bacteria access to the delicate skin underneath. Swimmer's ear may start with some itching, but try not to scratch because this can worsen the infection. Ear pain is the most common sign of swimmer's ear. Even touching or bumping the outside of the ear can hurt.
“I remember one day it was really bad in the morning and I was crying,” recalls Seth. Dr. Rosenfeld says, “Our guidelines really pin down some critical aspects of managing this, the most important is very good pain relief, very appropriate pain medication such as ibuprofen or even narcotics for the first day or two and secondly to treat it with topical antibiotics or antiseptics, drops that are applied to the ear canal not oral antibiotics that is the key.”
“What the doctor would do generally is clean the ear and often prescribe an ear drop which is the most effective way of managing this. Without treatment it can last easily for ten days before getting better and worse yet it can progress into a general infecting of the skin, but with treatment usually within one or two days you are feeling better and within a few days you should be cured of the pain.” And get your kids back in the pool as soon as possible. You can get swimmer’s ear from even just showering, if you get a lot of water in your ear.
People with flaky or scaly ears, people with allergic conditions such as eczema, allergic rhinitis or asthma are at higher risk. The key is preventing water from getting in, by using ear plugs. And don’t put anything into the ear, which can introduce more bacteria. If swimmer’s ear goes untreated, it can lead to an even more serious skin infection that would require antibiotics by mouth.