Swimming is refreshing cardio workout that would give you correct posture, healthy weight management, and relief from joint pain. This wonderful form of sports and exercise can give you only one problem sometimes and that is “Ear Infection”, which is popularly known as Swimmer’s Ear Infection. The medical name of this infection is Otitis Externa and it is the infection that takes place in ear canal.
Ear canal is the canal or passage from where outside sounds are taken to the eardrum. Various types of fungi and bacteria that enter the ear canal due to spending time in water may be the major cause of this infection. Small children are prone to get this infection more often during summers as they spend long hours in swimming pool. The skin covering the canal would usually break on spending long hours in swimming pool and would give way to the bacteria and fungi causing this type of infection.
Before discussing the easy prevention and cure tips for swimmer’s ear, let’s have a look at the early symptoms –
- Pain in ears.
- Feeling of fullness in ears.
- Itchiness in ears.
- Discharge from ears.
- Swelling inside the ear canal.
Home remedies can be administered if you experience any of these early symptoms or even if you or your kin are planning to indulge in long hours of swimming.
Prevention and cure tips
- As this problem occurs due to wetness in ears, the most important measure to prevent this problem is to keep ears dry all the times. You may ensure dryness in ears even when you are in shower or into the swimming pool. To achieve this, you can use ear plugs to cover the ear canals. There are professionally designed ear plugs that would easily fit into your ear and may prevent water from entering the ear canal. If you are not having these ear plugs then a cotton swab may also do. Apply petroleum jelly on the cotton swab and fix it near the ear opening to prevent water entry, moisture, and infection.
- Ear drops meant for water removal from the ear canal would also work. Your doctor would prescribe you ear drops that you can use after spending good time in swimming pool. A homemade eardrop made out of vinegar and alcohol may also offer good results.
- Once you have started experiencing the early symptoms, make sure you don’t let it worsen. Avoid scratching inside the ear even when you experience itching. This will make the healing faster.
- For severe infections, your doctor would prescribe you antibiotic ear drops that you will have to administer into the ear canal for best results.
Those having other conditions like eczema, allergy, or fungal infection may experience ear infection more often than others. This may sometimes turn into chronic condition that may last even longer than four weeks at a stretch and may be quite frequent. Chronic ear infection can lead to many other problems, hence it is important to take proper care of your ears to prevent further complication.
Author Bio: Karishma loves writing blogs and articles as a part of her work. While she provides her services for various known websites, her free time is utilized in exploring health benefits of natural supplements and extracts. She contributes these articles occasionally to turmericcurcuminshop.com, the online shop for pure turmeric curcumin extract.
Photos Credit: eltpics , jarmoluk
