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I've had a lot of problems with recurrent otitis externa. I've asked around and found it's actually epidemic in technical diving. No surprise really, since we spend a lot of time under water -- the water leaves our ear canals washed-out and vulnerable to infections However, nobody talks about this unless you ask directly. A cave divers from Sweden, R. Lundgren, told me that freshwater is actually worse than seawater in this respect. Needless to say, polluted water of either category tops the list of "interesting" micro-organisms. I'd like to know what those who log hours underwater around the world do to avoid/limit external ear infections. Keeping the external ear canals dry is a very good idea, yet hard to accomplish without wearing a hard hat. My advice would go along the lines of : 1) Keep ears dry (medical advice we may not be able to comply with) 2) Dry out your ears as soon as possible after surfacing 3) Use ear drops prophylacticly after a dive (diluted vinegar may work) 4) Whatever you do, no Q tips! Picking your itching ears breaks the external ear lining and leaves the ears more vulnerable to infection WKPP or others spending long hours underwater -- how do you fight external ear infections? regards, Hans -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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