Ear canal healing with flaky skin?

Posted , 3 users are following.

Background info: on holiday in Vietnam, I had my ears cleaned by a barber but I did it for the experience; it was not necessary since my ears were clean. He did a bad job and hurt my ear canal, no damage to eardrum. After the clean, my ear canals were hurting, like they've been scraped. I just left my ears like that and see if it heals on itself. I also showered and swam without earplugs in Vietnam's waters. 

A month later, I come back to Australia. Ear canal pain subsided unless touched it with a Q-tip which is how I clean my ears. I continue to shower without earplugs like I've always in my life. There is minimal wax built up. 

Side note: since I shower without earplugs, my ear gets wet so the wax is really soft. I clean with a Q-tip all my life. I have never had a problem with hard wax or any ear-related.

Now, I go to another GP to fix my hurting ear canal. He prescribes me with Otodex eardrops and I followed the recommended dosage for around 3 days. Everyday, showering without earplugs and Q-tipping to clean and monitor pain of ear canal. It got better so I stopped using it as that is what the doctor said to do. 

A few weeks pass by and I notice that hard wax has been building up in my ear canal. Sometimes they fall out themselves and sometimes I Q-tip it out. So I go see another GP and he says he sees a lot of white and concludes that it's the Q-tip cotton. He suggests that I wear earplugs (and I do now) and gives me eardrops to aid removal but instead, it floods my ear with more wax. Once my ear gets full, I ask my father to get it out for me using tweezers etc. He was very careful and got out the whole thing, in one go. It was like CARPET on my ear canals. I examined it closely and concluded that it was dead skin with wax inside. The dead skin must be my ear canal trying to heal itself but the wax is interferring with the process?

Finally, I go back to my original GP (last week), he prescribes me with Otodex and I've been using it for the past 5 days consistenly. He says I have inflammed ear canals. I've removed a bunch of wax/dead skin with some tools carefully and it seems good now. 

My question is, can this be solved any better? Any tips or prevention methods? How can I restore my ear back to it's original state where I can finally shower without ear plugs and Q-tip right after. 

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • Posted

    More information about the wax that my father removed from my ear: it was not all yellow. It had some clear parts making me believe that it's skin.

  • Posted

    If you have not damaged your Ear Drum, then I see no issue with you getting water in the Ear during a shower or swimming (infact, water up the nose from diving would give you more problems with the Ear). Q tips, whilst satisfying, also push some wax further into the Ear canal, which in turn balls up and falls out (if you are lucky) otherwise hardens and causes hearing loss later on. I thought Otodex was a treatment for Ear infection, as it contains antibiotics. If you had no infection then they would not help you too much. If you picked up something from the water in Vietnam, you are going to need a swap for Culture, so they know what they are dealing with. Maybe you could try Ear Candles next time you want to clean your Ears? GL AL  
    • Posted

      Apparently, I do have an ear infection and the ear canal hurt slightly when using Q-tips. Doctor also said to stop using Q-tips because it'll transfer bacteria into my ear canals and infect it further.

      An important observation that I forgot to mention is that if I shower without earplugs now, water will get into my ears and if I continue this for a few days, my ears will get stuffy. I am 100% sure it's the clear skin + minor wax I described earlier. My ear canals keeps producing skin when faced with water. So thats why I can't let water into my ears.

    • Posted

      Hopefully once any sign of infection has gone, you will be back to normal. The reason I asked about Psoriasis is because the symptoms include the Body making more skin than is needed. I'm not sure about the Hygiene In a Vietnamese Barbers, but I would avoid letting anyone putting things into your Body for a while, unless they are a Dr. wink

       

    • Posted

      Cool, thanks. Yes, it was unecessary too! I had no ear wax problems prior to that barber 'appointment'.

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