Surfers's ear. Exostoces. Surgery

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FairweatherDave

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Anyone had surgery to remove the bony growths in the ear canals that can develop from regular immersion in cold water? I've got typical age related deafness (probably a bit worse than most...I'm only 57) and use hearing aids.... but now one ear is completely blocked and I'm hoping for surgery. Google Surfers ear if you don't know what I'm talking about. Windsurfing has been the cause for me but I would think winter sailing, cold weather fell walking etc won't help matters. Wondering if I will need to wear ear flap type hats forever...and mainly wondering what other's experiences are. Yes there is lots of humour involved not being able to hear things from mumbling teenagers and wife who says she doesn't mumble etc but right now it is pretty frustrating.
 
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I don't suffer from Surfer's ear, but wear hearing aids due to the loss of high frequency sound. Personally, I prefer to be warm and have several hats that cover the ears. Come to think of it I cover my ears in summer with a baseball cap with a " legionnaires" attachment, but that is for sunburn.
 
Sandy said:
I don't suffer from Surfer's ear, but wear hearing aids due to the loss of high frequency sound. Personally, I prefer to be warm and have several hats that cover the ears. Come to think of it I cover my ears in summer with a baseball cap with a " legionnaires" attachment, but that is for sunburn.
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You paint a wonderful picture.
 
The reason most of us oldies have damage to our hearing is going to live music gigs when we were young and foolish. I feel sure my tinnitus is due to this. I am sorry that you have succumbed to a different problem and from what I hear the operation works well.
 
mainsail1 said:
The reason most of us oldies have damage to our hearing is going to live music gigs when we were young and foolish. I feel sure my tinnitus is due to this. I am sorry that you have succumbed to a different problem and from what I hear the operation works well.
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Yes, I am probably similar and was pleased to find at the age of 40 that even Motörhead played far more quietly than when I was a teenager so better chances for the young in the audience (although weirdly they banged on about it being “ear splitting”).
 
bikedaft said:
see your GP and ask for referral to ENT. caused by cold water
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Thanks. Yes. I'm waiting for ENT appointment...... :) Meanwhile my question was really two :
1. Has anyone had the surgery and care to share the experience?
2. Does anyone keep their ears warm on cold days specifically to avoid hearing problems. I tend to wear a beanie type hat if it is cold but that doesn't cover the ears very effectively.
 
I suffer from high frequency hearing loss/tinnitus and wear tiny "in-ear" aids. Cold weather/wind both gives me chilblains on my ears and drastically reduces battery life. I wear warm ear covering hats out of doors most of the time, both walking and sailing. My son surfs all year round (Thurso/Orkney!) and always wears a hood. He's had ear problems once or twice though not clearly related to temperature.
 
I don’t suffer from “surfer’s ear” but have worn hearing aids for the last 20 years after the medical when I got to 45 indicated significant loss (down to aircraft noise). I wear beany hats in the winter, pulled down low or one of a number of fetching numbers with ear flaps. Main reason for wearing them isn’t to keep my ears warm (although that’s a bonus) but to cut down on the wind noise in the aids.
That said, the latest set of aids is just got have much better filters and microphone placement so often don’t produce much in the way of wind noise.
 
FairweatherDave said:
Thanks. Yes. I'm waiting for ENT appointment...... :) Meanwhile my question was really two :
1. Has anyone had the surgery and care to share the experience?
2. Does anyone keep their ears warm on cold days specifically to avoid hearing problems. I tend to wear a beanie type hat if it is cold but that doesn't cover the ears very effectively.
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I know one guy who has surfer's ear. I honestly cannot remember if he has had the op or not. Will ask and get back to you. Pretty sure he will know of others.
 
mainsail1 said:
The reason most of us oldies have damage to our hearing is going to live music gigs when we were young and foolish.
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Some of us continue to be involved in live music gigs long past being young! ( I make no comment on the foolishness aspect. :D )

It is possible, though, that that loud music might not be the cause (or whole cause), but if you ever once admit to your ear doctor that you've played/listened to loud music it's nigh on impossible to get them to consider any other issues or potential causes.

In my own case working in very noisy (and sometimes dusty and chemically hazardous) environments when I was younger; riding motorbikes (wind noise more than engine noise); and damage/eardrum scarring caused by serious ear infections; etc. are also likely to be contributory. I suspect that certain continuous noises can also be damaging, even at volumes that would be safe in terms of sound pressure level.

I was very interested to learn of the 'Surfer's Ear' problem from this thread. I was previously unaware of it. I have recently accidentally discovered that part of my hearing loss, assumed by the doctors to be entirely the result of loud music damage to the receptors in my inner ear (can't remember the names of the bits just now - memory's going too!) is actually caused by restricted ear canals. Doctors and nurses have always commented on how narrow (and hairy!) my ear canals are, and I suspect they (the canals, not the medics!) have lately become more restricted. I have never been surfing, and though I used to do a lot of sea kayaking (and sailing and walking) I would generally try to avoid bitter cold. I shall try to get a GP to re-refer me to the ear consultant to pursue this matter. (I already needed to resolve an ongoing problem of contradiction between the strong advice previously given me by the consultant, and what the nurses in the ENT Dept insist ought to happen.)
 
bikedaft said:
I know one guy who has surfer's ear. I honestly cannot remember if he has had the op or not. Will ask and get back to you. Pretty sure he will know of others.
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Hi, he never went for the op. He gets wax, which settles with olive oil.

Ent surgeon best bet for info, not that many folk have it.
 
I find wearing hearing aids at sea is like watching one of those YouTube videos with a microphone in the wind!

I own a whole bunch of hats, the best one when it is cold is a baseball hat with fold down ear flaps made from thinsulate
 
An interesting thread which I am reading because I am currently deaf in one ear and I am hearing terrible tinnitus in the other. I had never heard of surfer's ear and I will now look it up. Thanks
 
Are you sure it is surfer's ear (and not meaning to teach you to suck eggs if you have had it examined). Sometimes it is wax compacted on the surface of the ear drum itself which commonly occurs with lots of watersports and especially scuba. It cant effectively be removed with the normal treatments and oils. Micro suction in this case is the answer. Just a thought.
 
Yes, I've seen them myself :)
Good ol Specsavers, the hearing experts used a camera with the earscope thing to show me. I have spent far to much time in the water when I thought I was windsurfing on the water.....
However I now await ENT's assessment, it maybe the growths aren't big enough. Equally the surgery is not without risk (hence my question). But wax certainly can cause problems too, it is mainly that the exostoses just make all the normal ear problems much worse (it is harder to keep the canal clear.) I am a Neanderthal!
 
I have very bad tinnitus in one ear but the other is absolutely fine. Like others loud music, motorbikes and loads of scuba diving could be the cause but if that were the case I'd expect both ears to be affected. As they're not it makes me think maybe it's more of an age thing (I'm 53). Last year both my ears got really badly blocked and I had to see an ENT doctor who properly sorted them out by removing all traces of wax (much more involved than syringing - my GP surgery has now I was told stopped doing syringing) and I wonder Dave whether this could be the case with yours?
 
Surfers ear will not normally cause deafness.

Think of the ear canal as a long cave with stalactites and stalagmites coming out into the space. The obstructions can impede wax coming out but will not stop sound waves going through the canal to the end ie eardrum.
Surfers ear can look very impressive if you can get a peek.
 
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