Ear after the sea

Ears trap water here because we are in and out of the sea all year — swim squads, kite sessions, the odd wipeout at the wall. On the day it happens: tilt the head, work the jaw, let gravity do it, and dry the outside of the ear properly with a towel corner.

Leave cotton buds out of it. The skin in the ear canal is thin, and a bud pushes wax in and scratches the surface that is meant to keep bacteria out. Most of the painful ears we see started with a bud.

Leave it is usually right. Water clears on its own within a few hours for most people.

Drying drops sold for swimmers can help people who trap water every single session — they are for prevention on an intact, healthy ear. Do not put anything in an ear that is already painful, discharging, or that has grommets or a history of a perforated eardrum. Ask at the counter first; that question takes thirty seconds.

Oil is for softening wax, not for water, and it is the wrong move on an inflamed canal.

Outer ear infection, the classic swimmer's ear, is sore when you tug the earlobe or press the little flap in front of the canal. It often follows a few days of wet ears and it usually needs prescribed drops — which means a doctor or a pharmacist-led referral, not a guess.

Middle ear trouble tends to sit deeper, comes with a cold, and hurts without touching the outside. Fever, spreading redness or swelling behind the ear, hearing loss, dizziness or discharge all move this out of self-management.

Children get more of this because they spend longer in the water and say less about it early. A child who is tugging an ear, off their food and warm needs to be seen the same day.

If you are here on holiday and your ear goes at the weekend, come in and talk to us. We can tell you whether it needs a doctor now, and where the nearest after-hours option is.

Pain lasting more than a day or two, any discharge, fever, hearing change, dizziness, or a blocked ear that does not clear — book a consult or see a doctor. Do not keep putting things in it hoping.