What is Swimmer's Ear?

If you are prone to spending a lot of time in the water, swimming competitively or simply love to shower, then it's possible that sooner or later you will develop an ear infection that can be incredibly painful. This is what is called Swimmer's Ear, and while the name is evocative you don't actually have to be a swimmer to get it. Instead, you might develop it from simply being in moist or damp environments. In this article we will take a closer look at the causes of swimmer's ear, and help you understand not only how it manifests but what you can do to take care of it should you be so afflicted.

Swimmer's ear is caused by excessive moisture in the ear canal, and can be caused by simply showering too often. The moisture can cause the skin in the ear canal to chafe and rub raw, so that it becomes cracked and dry. This itchiness and pain can cause people to seek to scratch their ear canal, breaking the skin which then allows bacteria to grow in the tissue of the ear canal and cause an infection. Swimming in polluted or dirty water is therefor and quite obviously an easy way to get swimmer's ear, as doing so can cause bacteria infested water to enter your ear canal easily.

Another way that people can develop swimmer's ear is by trying to clean your ears either too excessively or improperly. Doing so with sharp objects such as finger nails or too roughly with Q-Tips can cause to the protective layer of wax in your ear to be completely removed, which results in not only a loss of the protective layer, but also the healthy bacteria that is contained in the wax. Often, the very act of removal can damage your ear, opening holes for foreign bacteria to get through and infect your ear canal.

Other ways to develop swimmer's ear are less common but still possible, such as spraying hair spray or hair coloring into the ear, which can lead to irritation and outer ear infection, or psoriasis or seborrheic dermatitis. All of these can lead to an itching sensation deep in the ear which will cause the victim to scratch in order to seek relief and lead to breaking the skin, allowing the bacteria a means to enter and infect the canal, leading to a necessity for antibiotics to clear it up.

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