Not recently, but I had it done in my R ear about 10yrs ago. My case was so bad that the ear canal was completely closed... the surgery was uneventful and from memory not that painful. And i don't recall being out of the surf for that long - wounds normally take 10-14 days to heal enough to be water tight... your Dr will tell you. Basically once the stiches are out and the scab on the incision line sluffs off...

BTW, I have had no recurring problems - but do have to wear Ear Plugs when I swim or snorkel - otherwise I get water trapped in my R ear. This however is not a problem when I surf??

Still waiting for my ankle surgery to heal though - 12+ wks and still swollen and I'm still limping (tried to surf last week and ended back on hospital grade pain killers!!). Maybe try again on Australia Day...

Hey mate
Make sure you get a second opinion I was diagnosed with an exostosis in my right ear last year and the ENT surgeon told me i needed an operation straight away I went back to my GP who is an ex Navy dive doctor very experienced in treating these sort of conditions he told me that with using earpugs aqua ear etc that I could possibly get another 10 years out of my ear before operating, the operation was going to cost 7k there was a reason the ENT doc was sitting behind a huge mahogany desk overlooking the beach.
cheers Boof

Hey boofy, thanks for that i know what you mean. Yes i already have seen at least 4 different ENT here in perth. I have exostoses since 2001 i got diagnose in South of France, when i was working there, since then i have been avoiding surgery to a pt that now is a tiny narrow passage, causing me a bit of trouble.
i think is one of those things i am gonna have to go through and with both ears ! they are both the same. The other thing is i am going through the public system, private is too bloody expensive.

Thanks Flux, I went to see Dr Rodrigues in RPH twice, one in 2005 and the other one recently, he is apparently one of the best ENT in Perth. The truth is this guy is not going to do an operation like exostoses his team will do it, he told me that, he is more concentrate into deeper ear surgery like Osteomas and stuff like that. This is what is happening with most of the ENT if you are going through the public. So i think, well i am hoping that Dr Desmond Wee which is the one is going to do the surgery in my ear will be good enough to do a good job. I appreciated your info.

Dr wee did my right ear. After a week i went for a check up. I was a really good boy and kept it dry in the shower etc. He decided to leave the dressing in place to avoid unnecessary chance of infection, i have to admit i agreed. A week later and three nights of pain i went back and had the dressing removed with copious amounts of puss... turns out even as hard as i tried moisture still got in that first week.

Dr wee recomends at least 6 weeks and prefers 12 weeks for recovery, due to the infection i was out for 24 weeks... I have lost some hearing i presume due to scar tissue from the infection and constant ringing which i am starting to get used to.
This was about a year and a half ago. A friend i run into every now and then had the same thing happen.

The good news is because i was dry for so long my left ear had a chance to dry out properly, the water that gets trapped in behind the estosis and causes the discomfort started draining out better. I use aqua ear after showers and surfing although probably not enough.

Dr something or others Pro Plugs at one of the surf shops in margret river work unreal at 25 bucks a pop they dont even wash out that easy. Water still gets in but not nearly as much. I also found wind doesnt help the ears flaring up and the plugs help this. At the moment i dont have any pro plugs and use blu tac. The blu tac i wack in the ear hole (although not in big surf as they cannot equalise like the pro plugs do) and chuck it in the bin after the surf. 2.50 a packet bargain!!!!

So if i could have avoided the surgery i would have, but this would mean staying out of the water, shower cap included, for six months any way!! I dont know of any other ent guys other than dr wee but he does do alot of surfers...
so your not an experiment... All surgery is disruptive, which really sux.

Best wishes mate

I have it for 15+ years now. Every spring, I tend to get a bit of infection, due to the water retention.
I also hear less and less. 10 years ago up to 6000Hz, now under 5000Hz...

I'm very keen to hear as many experiences as possible.
If you had it , please write about it.

A GP with a lot of diving experience told me 10 years ago: "It's normally a very bloody operation, but it is easy and I can do here".

An ear specialist told me 6 years ago: "No need to do anything. It does not affect hearing. Your loss of hearing is affected by your army days (shooting etc.)"

I read about the laser surgery 10 years ago. No blood, no infection. "It crumbles the bone under the skin and avoids further hearing loss caused by the drill". Whatever...never managed to find the reference again.

So a chisel...www.sutterhealth.org/pamf/services/ear-nose-throat/surfers-ear-surgery-pamf

[/b[b]]if you are reading this and dont have ear problems yet you should start wearing a hood and use pro plugs where possible.

The effects of the cold are the primary cause

and just suckin it in and getting used to the hood is going to dramatically improve your life as an elderly surfer.

All I can say is that I saw a photo of my R ear canal prior to surgery and the boney growth had all but closed the canal - and I had a very noticeable loss in hearing. When it finally 'closed' I had the sense of a constantly blocked ear (no pain) and that caused me to seek treatment. Until then I was quite oblivious to the problem (as my L ear was fine - and still is).

The surgery I had opened up the ear with a 'cork-screw' type incision starting from behind the ear and I believe took the bone out from within...

Yes it was bloody for a couple of days afterwards, but I do not recall having too much time out of the surf 2-3wks at most. Ditto the pain...

I've had a few surgeries - ears, nose, dental, ankle and I thought the ear surgery was OK.

Just my experience.

My ears are clean, as I'm in the water a lot. No such problems luckily.

So Gorgo , you are planning to have a surgery?

I promise I don't own shares in the company - there is a mob over East called Sassal Health who sell Surfers Ear drops. They are $25 a bottle but last ages. I have had both ears operated on for Exostoses about 15 years ago. I was getting constant ear infections after surfing (this is after the bony growths came back - post operation). Worse infections in the tropics because of the humidity and coral polyps in the water. Tried Docs Proplugs (annoying) Aqua Ear and a Gath hat. Not all at the same time, of course. Stumbled upon these drops when they were in the trial stage. I put them in when I go to sleep at night after surfing or swimming. No need to use cotton wool, just let it drain out as it doesn't stain. Then roll over and do the other ear. A couple of minutes each side is enough.The concoction is mainly alcohol based like Aqua Ear but it does have some other magic ingredient/s as well. My last visit to the Dr for ear infections was before I started using them around 5 years ago. Before that it was several times a year, heaps of time out of the water and heaps of anitbiotics. I just came back from a week at Balian which is never clean water, surfing every day and the rains had washed all sorts of goo downstream as well. No problems with my ears. Hope this helps some of you poor buggers out there.

post this on a UK surfing forum as us poms surf in fricken cold water.

Ive known of quite a few people that have had it done.

The method they had was basically a makita drill bit down the canal.

said it was painful, but you guys seem to know some surgeons that arent butchers from the previous posts.

best of luck,

ps. blue tack is the best plug ever - dont care what anyone else says about expensive brands, its sticky and its great. also come sin white if you dont want to look like a vulcan. I know plug my ears every sail/ surf to avoid this ear problem