Swimmer’s Ear (Otitis Externa)

Swimmer’s ear is an infection of the skin which lines the ear canal. After swimming, water that is trapped in the canal causes irritation, swelling, redness, and drainage from the ear canal. The use of cotton swabs, which push wax and other debris farther into the ear canal, can also cause bacteria to grow. Swimmer’s ear is itchy or painful especially when pulling on the ear lobe, and is tender when touching the tab of skin in front of the ear canal.

          Swimmer’s ear is not a very serious or contagious condition, but should be treated to prevent the spread of infection to the ear drum or to other tissues of the face and neck. Keeping the ears dry by avoiding swimming is essential to allow the ear canal lining to normalize. Prescription antibiotic drops usually take away the pain in 3 to 5 days. Sometimes antibiotics by mouth and other pain medication may be indicated. It is safe to resume swimming after 5 days of antibiotic drops if no pain occurs when tugging on the ear lobe. Your doctor may want to recheck your ear, especially if the ear drum or other tissues were involved at the time of diagnosis. Call our office if the pain or swelling worsens after 24 hours of treatment, fever occurs, or any other new symptoms develop.

          After a bout of swimmer’s ear, a person is more prone to a reinfection if swimming continues. Prevention of swimmer’s ear is simple and effective. An over-the-counter rubbing alcohol preparation is readily available at any pharmacy and is sold under several brands such as Swim Ear or Aural Dri. These drops should be applied to both ears after towel drying any residual water from the canals. If these drops sting the ear, then there may already be an infection. Unfortunately these over-the-counter drops will not treat a true case of swimmer’s ear. Also, earplugs (those that are not custom fit) are not useful to prevent swimmer’s ear, as they just push the wax farther into the canal and trap water from swimming.