Everything you need to know about Swimmer’s Ear

18 Aug Everything you need to know about Swimmer’s Ear

Swimmers Ear

From Kidshealth.org

Swimmer’s ear is quite common in both active swimmers and children, and is easily curable.  As with anything else, knowlege is the key to heading off this painful condition before it develops into something more serious.  This post from Kids Health gives a brief background on the condition as well as some signs and symptoms to look for.

Here is an excerpt from the post:

About Swimmer’s Ear

Otitis externa — commonly known as swimmer’s ear — is an infection of the ear canal, the passage that carries sounds from the outside of the body to the eardrum. It can be caused by many different types of bacteria or fungi.

The infection commonly occurs in kids who spend a lot of time in the water. Too much moisture in the ear can irritate and break down the skin in the canal, allowing bacteria or fungi to penetrate. For this reason, otitis externa occurs more often in summertime, when swimming is common.

But you don’t have to swim to get swimmer’s ear. Anything that causes a break in the skin of the ear canal can lead to an infection. Dry skin or eczema, scratching the ear canal, vigorous ear cleaning with cotton-tipped applicators, or inserting foreign objects like bobby pins or paper clips into the ear can all increase the risk of developing otitis externa.

And if someone has a middle ear infection, pus collected in the middle ear can drain into the ear canal through a hole in the eardrum and cause otitis externa.

Click here for the entire post