| Otitis externa is also known as 'external otitis' or more commonly 'swimmer's ear'. This is an inflammation of the outer ear and ear canal and can cause a nasty earache. Swimmers ear is a very common form of earache and get's it's name because people often develop it after swimming as it is caused by excess moisture that is left in the ear. Although this often occurs after swimming, that is not always the case and if the conditions are right, anybody can develop swimmer's ear. Some people can become susceptible to swimmer's ear and can spend quite a bit of money on doctor visits and medications each time the infection occurs. Those people who are susceptible to swimmer's ear, or having children that are prone to it, will often seek a home remedy that might help them relieve the pain associated with the infection or even clear the infection completely. There are a few different home remedies that can be used to treat ear infections, but the results will be determined by the severity of the infection and some remedies just work better for some people than others. Although home remedies can be quite effective for treating ear infections, if the pain is severe you should consult a doctor to get a proper diagnosis and to make sure that it isn't anything more serious. If you suffer from swimmer's ear often then you will get to know the symptoms and can possibly treat it with home remedies if you catch it early. If you are experienced with ear infections then you will know how they feel and whether they are bad enough to warrant a trip to the doctor or whether you can treat it with a home remedy. Then there are times that you can develop an ear infection at night when it isn't possible to visit a doctor and home remedies can be very useful during these times to help relieve pain until morning when you can see the doctor. Home remedies to treat swimmer's ear can often be made with ingredients that you have at home in your kitchen. One remedy that is effective is to rub a few drops of alcohol over the sore ear, this can help to stop the infection from becoming worse. Just tilt your head to the side and add no more than two drops into the ear. You can gently rub your ear or move your head to let the alcohol move around the ear canal. Let is sit for a few minutes and then rinse your ear with warm water. A similar method to this is to use water and vinegar instead of alcohol. A mixture of 50/50 water and vinegar helps to kill the bacteria in the ear. Just apply a few drops using the same technique as above and you can sometimes see results quite fast with this remedy. Prevention is often better than cure and in many cases swimmer's ear can be prevented by wearing ear plugs when swimming. Another way to prevent swimmer's ear is to dry your ears gently with a hair dryer, just to dry up any excess moisture after swimming. Just make sure to keep the hair dryer on a cool setting and not to have it too close to the ear. If you suffer from swimmer's ear often then take measures to try and keep your ears dry and stop an infection from developing. |
