{"id":3283,"date":"2023-03-03T14:22:39","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T19:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/?p=3283"},"modified":"2023-03-07T19:33:18","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T00:33:18","slug":"what-should-i-do-if-water-gets-stuck-in-my-ear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/what-should-i-do-if-water-gets-stuck-in-my-ear\/","title":{"rendered":"What Should I Do if Water Gets Stuck in My Ear?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A common <a href=\"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/ent\/ear-infection\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ear infection<\/a> caused by water getting trapped in the ear canal is called swimmer\u2019s ear, or otitis externa. According to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/books\/NBK556055\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">article<\/a> published in the National Library of Medicine, \u201cApproximately 10% of people will develop otitis externa during their lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To prevent swimmer\u2019s ear, it\u2019s essential that you remove the water in your ears after surfing, swimming, bathing or showering. We review how to do this safely below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>What You Can Do<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/water-ear-ent-1280x853.jpg\" alt=\"Man experiencing ear discomfort, puts hand on his ear\" class=\"wp-image-3291\" width=\"329\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/water-ear-ent-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/water-ear-ent-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/water-ear-ent-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/water-ear-ent-scaled.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 329px) 100vw, 329px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>If you have water in your ears, to remove it, you can try:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Pulling gently on your earlobe while tipping your head to one side until you feel the water drain out.<\/li><li>Lying on your side for a few minutes with your head resting on a towel.<\/li><li>Moving your jaw around with your head tilted to the side.<\/li><li>Cupping your palm over your ear, tipping your ear to the ground and gently pressing and releasing to create a suction.<\/li><li>Using a hair dryer on the lowest, coolest setting to dry the water out.<\/li><li>Taking a breath, pinching your nose, closing your mouth and gently exhaling to remove water from the Eustachian tubes.<\/li><li>Applying hydrogen peroxide eardrops mixed with equal parts vinegar and rubbing alcohol from The Medicine Chest on East State Boulevard. <strong>Note: Do not do this if you have an ear infection, a perforated eardrum or ear tubes.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>What You Shouldn\u2019t Do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You should <em>never <\/em>try to use a Q-tip or cotton swab to remove water from your ears. Doing so is risky, in fact:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>You could push <a href=\"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/ent\/earwax-removal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">earwax<\/a> deep into the ear, causing it to become impacted.<\/li><li>You could puncture your eardrum, causing pain, hearing loss, infection and other problems.<\/li><li>You could scratch off the protective layer inside your ear canal, making you more susceptible to an infection.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>When to See a Doctor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve tried the safe techniques listed above and still feel as if there\u2019s water in the ears and you develop pain or a fever, see your doctor right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To learn more about swimmer\u2019s ear or to schedule an appointment with an ear expert, call <span class=\"company-name \">Ear, Nose &amp; Throat Associates<\/span> today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><ul class=\"related-posts\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/the-impact-of-smoking-on-ent-health-risks-and-recovery\/\" class=\"related-post\">The Impact Of Smoking On ENT Health: Risks and Recovery<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/home-remedies-for-a-sore-throat-and-when-to-see-a-doctor\/\" class=\"related-post\">Home Remedies for a Sore Throat and When to See a Doctor<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/how-to-recognize-and-manage-aphasia\/\" class=\"related-post\">How To Recognize and Manage Aphasia<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A common ear infection caused by water getting trapped in the ear canal is called swimmer\u2019s ear, or otitis externa. According to an article published in the National Library of Medicine, \u201cApproximately 10% of people will develop otitis externa during their lifetime.\u201d To prevent swimmer\u2019s ear, it\u2019s essential that you remove the water in your&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","schema":"","fname":"","lname":"","position":"","credentials":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3283"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3294,"href":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283\/revisions\/3294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entfortwayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}