EAR BEER:
1 Part White Vinegar+1 Part Isopropyl Alcohol=Frothy critter killin’ goodness.
Isopropyl Alcohol
I get a sore ear if I’ve been diving a lot. I was a swimmer as a kid so I’ve had swimmers ear before and normally for swimmers ear I’d go the pharmacy and get some special drops to make the pain go away. Rarely do I actually get infections though. What I do get is a constant stuffy feeling, like my ears need to equalize and this typically lasted for a few days after a dive. I don’t know if it’s the water in my ears or that there is some inflammation from a brewing infection. On top of that I can’t even imagine what critters are living in our ears from the Texas lake water.
Distilled White Vinegar
A tried and true home remedy brought to you by the prolific cave divers/troglodytes in Florida is “Ear Beer”. In truth I don’t know if the people in Florida invented ear beer or not, but for fun lets just assume they did. We discovered ear beer during our GUE Fundamentals class in Florida after many hours of diving and sore ears. There really isn’t any set recipe for it, but based on my google search, the consistency seems to be 1 parts vinegar to 1 part isapropyl alcohol. If your Isopropyl is strong (like 91%) you may want to cut it with some water because It can be painful in the ears. I used distilled white vinegar and mixed some up with 80 % isopropyl alcohol in a small bottle. The vinegar is also great for cleaning out a pee valve to keep the critters outa that area too. I put some ear beer in my ears just after a dive and it really helps dry the ears out. I stole my recipe from somewhere out in internet land and I’m sorry but I can’t remember where to even give credit to the person. The recipe seems to work pretty well for me. I not experiencing the sensation of needing to equalize my ears days after a dive and so far I’ve not had any sore ears. Obviously with any snake oil remedy please consult your ENT before use.
Ear Critter From The Blue Lagoon