How to swim w/ perforated eardrum?

Triathlon Forum
1

I’ve been reading these boards since signing up for Lousiville (my first IM) last fall & I first want to say…you guys are great!!! Thanks so much!

This is my first real post & I hate that it has to be about this, but I’ve exhausted all other resources & need help.

I was swimming this past Sunday & dove a little deep (stupidly playing around after masters) when I felt this huge “pop” in my right ear. Since then, it’s felt like my head was full of water & that my ear needed a good popping. I’ve been trying to pop it - creating suction, using swimmers ear drops all week. I’ve also swam twice since then. In hindsight, all very dumb ideas…

I went to the doc this morning hoping that he could just flush my ear & I’d be on my way. He told me that I had a ruptured eardrum & his advice was to “stay out of the pool & no showers for at least two weeks”… I explained to him what I was training for & how badly I didn’t want to miss two weeks of swim…my long swims are just now getting really comfortable. Fortunatley, he was sympathetic & told me that I could try ear plugs & a couple of caps & see how it felt. If it hurt or if I could feel water…stop.

If I really need to stay out of the pool, I figure that now is a good time to do it - early in the training. However, I’d rather find a solution that will allow me to swim some. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any advice on ear plugs or other solutions?

Thanks,

Tracy

2

no swimming or showers for two weeks? that sounds like a nightmare.

Cotton balls in your ears, then a swim cap, might work.

A ruptured ear drum sounds painful! I hope it heals soon :slight_smile:

3

Take the 2 weeks out now, it won’t hurt you and you can use the time gained to focus on one of the other sports. Much better to get this healed up than to drag it out and face a bigger layoff or worse problem down the line.

4

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5

Someone who swims at Stanford Masters ruptured his eardrum a couple of weeks ago. His doc gave him a special ear plug/cover thing that seals very well. I don’t think he swam for the 2 weeks immediately following the incident but he was out of town too.

Go ask your doctor or maybe see another one to find out about the ear plug. Good luck.

6

Look at the long term. Do you want to risk losing some of your hearing? Listen to the Doc.

Dave

7
  1. If you really want to swim look for an AUDIOLOGIST in your area. Call them and ask them if they can make you a custom swimmer’s plug in 48 hours or less. Some can even make it in their own office the same they, but some need to send an impression to the lab typically out of town.
  2. I would definitely advise against swimming with anything short of the custom plug. You do not risk a hearing loss as some have suggested, but if cold water penetrates into the middle ear severe dizziness and loss of orientation will occur. In open water that may be fatal, but in the pool somebody will likely help you.
  3. If you want to be 100 % safe (as you should) get the swimmers plug, a good cap, and have a friend monitor that you do not get a sudden desire to explore the bottom of the pool.
8

I totally understand how you feel that missing two weeks of swimming can put you in a panic. When I trained for my first IM I thought missing ONE practice would mean I’d DNFfor sure!
but really, 2 weeks might sound like a lot but it is not the end of the world…what would suck would be to lose hearing. I ruptured an ear drum a few years ago as I had an inner ear infection I was not aware of then went on a plane…oh, the pain. I also could not shower or swim…and still I have a hearing loss of about 20% in that ear. Please do not fool around with this. I would not even trust an ear plug/cover.
Your frustration is understandble, it being your first IM, but if you are doing it ‘to finish’ dont sweat it. Also the swim is a warm up for the rest of the day! so use this time to work on the bike if you can, you can make the most time there and not risk injury than if you used your swim time to add extra run mileage suddenly.

9

Hi Beanbro,

I may not be much of an expert on triathlon yet, but if there is something i can help with… it would be eardrums. Sounds silly, I know, but I’ve lived with ear problems forEVER and they are definitely nothing that needs to slow you down. After living for at least 10 years with a perforation in my eardrum (and probably 15+ with a man-made hole created by tubes in my ear) I can attest that while you may not end up scuba diving in the next several weeks, you should be fine with swimming and showering. Here are some thoughts…

First of all, it really surprised me that you were able to put anything in your ears at all after it had ruptured. I had one experience with putting swimmer’s ear drops into a ruptured eardrum… suffice it to say that experience involved 1) the WORST pain I have EVER felt and 2) scraping me off the ceiling with a putty knife. That being said, it might not hurt to have your ear checked out by an Ear Nose & Throat doc…not that your first doc got it wrong, but something seems odd to me about that.

Second, I say this with great emphasis. MACK’S EAR PLUGS. The little silicone ones you can buy at Walmart, Target, any drug store… 12 for $4ish. I had custom ear molds throughout childhood and have tried every other earplug under the sun. Don’t worry about a cotton ball with vaseline, swim caps, or any other earplugs… Mack’s ear plugs are really all you need to get you back in the water. Put one in to shower, one in to swim. Just make sure your ear is clean and dry when you put it in and you should get a good seal that will prevent water getting in, infections, etc… Even after I had my eardrum grafted in 2001, I still swim with Mack’s silicon plugs in both ears… just because I hate the feel of water in my ears.

If you have any questions at all… send me a message. I’ll help with anything I can!

For now… get back in the water! :wink:

Jodi
Second

10

I have a bit of experience with this one. I have had a perforated eardrum for the last 13 years. I ruptured it scuba diving. You need to see and ENT immediately. It may or may not heal on its own depending on several things including the size and location of the hole. I have had two surgeries to attempt to close my hole. They essentially cut the back of your earlobe, peel your ear back, graft a piece of tissue onto the drum and then stitch you back up.

Each time I have had it repaired, it has ruptured again - once I sneezed and it reopened, another time it just reopened.

The big issue is infections. I have had too many to count since the perforation.

The best thing you can do right now is go to an ENT, follow his instructions on staying out of pool and being careful in shower. He will recommend getting fit for a custom swim plug. Do so. It is the only way I can swim. Without it I would get water in my inner ear, infection, pain, etc.

I can swim all I want with the swim plug, I just need to stay very near the surface so that pressure does not force water behind the plug. Flip turns and certain TI drills are out of the question because I get water behind the plug. It is not ideal, but I have learned to live with it. I can’t even dive into the pool.

Hopefully, yours will heal on its own and heal well. You don’t want to push it. You will end up like me.

I will never scuba dive again. I can’t chase my kids to the bottom of the pool. I have about 50% hearing in that ear and who know what effect the infections will have on me later in life.

I can live with the inconvenience. The alternative is to give up tris and swimming and I don’t want to do that.

11

Yes, it’s true that I’m replying to a 12 year old post but I found this super helpful this summer and appreciate the advice/tips found on Slowtwitch.

So I thought I’s share my story for the next person that has to go through this. My race date was July 27th (Santa Rosa 70.3).

June 18th: Perforated my eardrum (just before a European vacation). Temporary loss of hearing for several weeksVisited doctor who advised me not to swimMid-July: Visited ENT (had to force my way into an appointment because they were backed up until August)25% perforation and ENT cautioned me about doing the raceSwim training: Did NOT do any kind of swim training from June 18th-July 25th (37 days if my math is right)July 25: Practice OWS to test my solution to protecting my ear from getting water in it. I used Mack’s Silicon Earplugs covered up with a Blueseventy thermal skull cap. My swim goggles were placed over the skull cap and then I covered the goggles with a previous year’s race cap. Yes, it was the goofy looking.
**Summary: **This contraption worked well and I really don’t feel like I lost swim fitness from missing that much time. I’m not fast in the water anyway so what’s a few extra minutes. Of course it felt super goofy standing on the ramp before the race but who cares.

Thanks again for the advice in the thread.

12

I’ve been reading these boards since signing up for Lousiville (my first IM) last fall & I first want to say…you guys are great!!! Thanks so much!

This is my first real post & I hate that it has to be about this, but I’ve exhausted all other resources & need help.

I was swimming this past Sunday & dove a little deep (stupidly playing around after masters) when I felt this huge “pop” in my right ear. Since then, it’s felt like my head was full of water & that my ear needed a good popping. I’ve been trying to pop it - creating suction, using swimmers ear drops all week. I’ve also swam twice since then. In hindsight, all very dumb ideas…

I went to the doc this morning hoping that he could just flush my ear & I’d be on my way. He told me that I had a ruptured eardrum & his advice was to “stay out of the pool & no showers for at least two weeks”… I explained to him what I was training for & how badly I didn’t want to miss two weeks of swim…my long swims are just now getting really comfortable. Fortunatley, he was sympathetic & told me that I could try ear plugs & a couple of caps & see how it felt. If it hurt or if I could feel water…stop.

If I really need to stay out of the pool, I figure that now is a good time to do it - early in the training. However, I’d rather find a solution that will allow me to swim some. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any advice on ear plugs or other solutions?

Thanks,

Tracy

I did the EXACT same thing after a pool swim 3 yrs ago. I went to my otolaryngologist, he put a patch on my eardrum to accelerate healing. He gave me a pair of Doc Pro Plugs, and I kept swimming. 3 weeks later, I went in and the patch had fallen off, he could tell that the hole had healed by performing some hearing tests, and I was off to swim IMWI. I still wore the plug even though he told me I didn’t need it & I no longer dive to pick shit up off the bottom of the deep end.

After rereading your post, make sure you go to a good otolaryngologist, not a family practice or general practitioner. What he did is pretty common but doesn’t always work to heal to preforation.

13

Thank you all so much for posting on this tricky topic, and especially bmpskier and turningscrews for picking it up again despite 12 years!

I’ve had three perforations over the last four years (after a lifetime of swimming induced ear infections & delicate handling – but no major traumas). The first two perfs self healed after ~3 months each, but this last required tympanoplasty, which I had Nov 2019. Idiotic bike crash on Christmas eve (in which I banged my head hard) may have been a factor in the reopening of the perf. Found out, after all, that I had had multiple perfs by the time of surgery. Wildly despondent about the whole situation, as you may guess – haven’t been in the water since August. Second surgery scheduled now for May.

So I am going to try swimming with vaseline coated cotton ball in ear, with molded-ear swim cap over. My ENT says the custom plugs, as well as the wax ones, (I found the blue Mighty Plugs best) will allow water to enter with movements of the face & jaw, etc. As they mold tightly to the opening, flexion will create a gap, he explained. This makes sense to me, as I NEVER have a dry ear after swimming, no matter what – but much better with the precautions. He recommended Mack’s Ear Dryer for drying (I’ve been using alcohol and white vinegar drops forever), and has given me a script for Ciprodex antibiotic drops in case of water coming in.

I hope to be swimming open water in Cuba in April. Meanwhile, I want to try my doc’s cotton & vaseline recc before I go. I’ll report in on how it goes.

I’ve been researching many angles of the problem for months – from alternate repair techniques to best ENT surgeons on the East Coast to swimming with the perf, etc. What I have come to figure on my own, meanwhile, is that a screwy sinus and deviated septum (I was unaware before, as these never bothered me) have almost certainly contributed to the chronic ear infections – all on the same side. So I’m going in for a septoplasty and sinus cleaning this week, in preparation for the May repeat tympanoplasty.

Would love to share further insights and information about all of the above.

Cheers and thanks,

Catherine

14

Thank you all so much for posting on this tricky topic, and especially bmpskier and turningscrews for picking it up again despite 12 years!

I’ve had three perforations over the last four years (after a lifetime of swimming induced ear infections & delicate handling – but no major traumas). The first two perfs self healed after ~3 months each, but this last required tympanoplasty, which I had Nov 2019. Idiotic bike crash on Christmas eve (in which I banged my head hard) may have been a factor in the reopening of the perf. Found out, after all, that I had had multiple perfs by the time of surgery. Wildly despondent about the whole situation, as you may guess – haven’t been in the water since August. Second surgery scheduled now for May.

So I am going to try swimming with vaseline coated cotton ball in ear, with molded-ear swim cap over. My ENT says the custom plugs, as well as the wax ones, (I found the blue Mighty Plugs best) will allow water to enter with movements of the face & jaw, etc. As they mold tightly to the opening, flexion will create a gap, he explained. This makes sense to me, as I NEVER have a dry ear after swimming, no matter what – but much better with the precautions. He recommended Mack’s Ear Dryer for drying (I’ve been using alcohol and white vinegar drops forever), and has given me a script for Ciprodex antibiotic drops in case of water coming in.

I hope to be swimming open water in Cuba in April. Meanwhile, I want to try my doc’s cotton & vaseline recc before I go. I’ll report in on how it goes.

I’ve been researching many angles of the problem for months – from alternate repair techniques to best ENT surgeons on the East Coast to swimming with the perf, etc. What I have come to figure on my own, meanwhile, is that a screwy sinus and deviated septum (I was unaware before, as these never bothered me) have almost certainly contributed to the chronic ear infections – all on the same side. So I’m going in for a septoplasty and sinus cleaning this week, in preparation for the May repeat tympanoplasty.

Would love to share further insights and information about all of the above.

Cheers and thanks,

Catherine

Hi Catherine. I know that Will Huffman (ITU pro) has had a perforated ear drum (never healed) for a long time, like since he was high school I think or even before. I asked him what he does and he swims with one ear plug in that ear. It is the following Mack AquaBlock ear plugs. Obviously the biggest concern is the chances of middle ear infection. He has not had a ear infection using the plugs. YMMV.

15

I have swam for most of my life with ear problems and thought that most plugs suck. I perforated my eardrum about 4-5 weeks out from my big Ironman about 3 years ago.

We have very good otolaryngologists in the area and the one I went to see got me a pair of Docs Pro Plugs. They worked great and kept me in the pool up to my ironman and in the race.

16

Just wanted to say thanks here for the good tips. Blew out my ear drum two weeks ago. Not fully healed so trying to find a safe way back into the pool. Will try a few of these options. Again thanks

17

Stay out of the pool and let it heal now. If you don’t and you have a lingering injury that’s will be worse.