Always wondered why those people had lumpy stuff stuck in their ears.
Now I got an ear infection & can see there might be some reasoning behind their quirkiness

Okay thanks for the info....have googled it but quite a confusing array of solutions.
So it seems the wax in the ears & the ear plugs are preventative measures (hard to look like a cool soul surfer when you got things stuck in your earholes )
Do you have to go to the doctor to get rid of the initial infection or can you be an old try hard & get an on line or pharmacy product to deal with the initial infectiom?

Go see a doc!

www.californiaearinstitute.com/ear-disorders-exostosis-california-ear-institute-bay-area.php

Check this out Gizzie
I have an exostosis in right ear the ENT surgeon says heaps of surfers on east coast of AUS end up with them from sitting facing out to sea with a cold southerly blowing in your right ear.
Living and surfing in NZ your whole head is probably affected. Its gonna cost me 7k for the operation so I am sort of just managing it at the moment with aqua ear after every surf cannot bring myself to use earplugs


Dont use aqua ear till ear infection is cleared up unless you like the sound of your own high pitched screaming

always use aqua ear after being in the water
on advice from my doc i purchased a macs ear drier on line
it's about the size of a mobile phone with a rechargable battery
it blows warm air into your ear at body temp,works great
getting your ears dry is the problemm

Mate, first thing you need to do is lose the infection. See the Doc for some antibiotics and knock it on the head so to speak. Sofradex drops and Flopen capsules have done the trick for me in the past. The longer the infection goes on the more chance of some evil sh.t happenning. Have had the op three times in the last 25 years, left ear twice, right once, and there is nothing fun about it. Post op everytime is like waking up after being kicked in the head by a horse. Do not under any circumstances let a well meaning but clueless doc try and syringe your ear with warm water. This will just force more water in behind the blockage and with continued infection you run the risk of permanent damage to the ear drum. My first op was somewhat of an emergency because of the above. When the specialist drilled through the obstruction to the cavity between it and the ear drum he said it was packed with the same sort of black crap that you would scrape off a filthy plastic shower curtain!! Must confess all that Pethadine was interesting!!
Gizzie, how much of an obstruction do you have? Its amazing how small of an opening in your ear canal you can function with normally. Problem with exostosis is the canal opening can become so minute that the meniscus from a single drop of water can block the canal and cause total hearing loss. Thats when it gets freaky.
I used to have a tooth pick in my surf bag shaved down to a needle point, post surf I would be sitting on the beach gently probing in my ear for the minute opening and when you find it there is that wonderful pop followed by the miracle of full hearing. When I would inevitably lose my toothpick I found that the tip of a piece of seagrass or marram would suffice. That sh.t gets old real quick!!
Blutack is the answer, have tried most of the commercial options but Blutac is defintely the best. You will learn to lip read, trust me!!
Cheers
Sparx

I have the answer just keep ya head out of the water As I told you the other day I was a compeitive swimmer in my younger days I used to wipe meths in my ears with a cotton bud . Trained most of the year morning &night that kept the ear problems awayAlmost forgot to say the point was the best its been since I don't no when of cause half the world was out there but I got my share.

GizzieNZ said...

Well thanks guys....some of your advice is positively scary.....talked to one of the local surfers this morning that has always something stuck in his earholes. Said I'd wadded up some electrical tape & chucked that in the hole.
His low tech ear protection solution is bostik blu tack.....tried it this morning seemed to work good.
Could hardly hear what people were saying when I dropped in on them or lurked out the back & took the best set waves though
On the other hand Towball was also lurking out the back at makorori point this morning pretending he couldn't hear the names people were calling him & he didn't even have the blu tack excuse lol

Sparx said...

Mate, first thing you need to do is lose the infection. See the Doc for some antibiotics and knock it on the head so to speak. Sofradex drops and Flopen capsules have done the trick for me in the past. The longer the infection goes on the more chance of some evil sh.t happenning. Have had the op three times in the last 25 years, left ear twice, right once, and there is nothing fun about it. Post op everytime is like waking up after being kicked in the head by a horse. Do not under any circumstances let a well meaning but clueless doc try and syringe your ear with warm water. This will just force more water in behind the blockage and with continued infection you run the risk of permanent damage to the ear drum. My first op was somewhat of an emergency because of the above. When the specialist drilled through the obstruction to the cavity between it and the ear drum he said it was packed with the same sort of black crap that you would scrape off a filthy plastic shower curtain!! Must confess all that Pethadine was interesting!!

Gizzie, how much of an obstruction do you have? Its amazing how small of an opening in your ear canal you can function with normally. Problem with exostosis is the canal opening can become so minute that the meniscus from a single drop of water can block the canal and cause total hearing loss. Thats when it gets freaky.
I used to have a tooth pick in my surf bag shaved down to a needle point, post surf I would be sitting on the beach gently probing in my ear for the minute opening and when you find it there is that wonderful pop followed by the miracle of full hearing. When I would inevitably lose my toothpick I found that the tip of a piece of seagrass or marram would suffice. That sh.t gets old real quick!!
Blutack is the answer, have tried most of the commercial options but Blutac is defintely the best. You will learn to lip read, trust me!!
Cheers
Sparx

Stop showing off Sparx! I use the Great Ozzie Cossie ear plugs which are just like very expensive Blu tack but last a really long time. You Don't have to use the whole wad at the same time. As Sparx said the op is enough to make you move states/countries?!! And then it still keeps happening like a recurring nightmare!

can anybody give any advice on where to buy the Macs Ear Dryer in Aus

Grizzle you won't need driers or drops if you remember the blue tac. Plugs are a hoax, just buy about 5 packs of blue tac and leave a couple in the car. You only get infections if you get water trapped in your ear.