The water, the sun, plenty of swimming and splashing around to many people, these are the ingredients for a perfect summer day spent by the pool or at the beach. Add a painful ear infection to the picture, and the scenario quickly slides downhill. That’s what can happen to you if swimmer’s ear strikes, unless you know how to prevent the problem.

Swimmer’s ear, an infection of the outer ear canal, sometimes can be caused by a fungus, but common bacteria is usually the culprit. “It got the name swimmer’s ear because it’s quite prone to happen in the summer, when people are in the water a lot and they have water lying in the ear for a long period of time,” says Donald B. Kamerer, M.D., F.A.C.S., a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and staff physician at the Pittsburgh Eye and Ear Hospital. Those are just the right conditions for the development of swimmer’s ear, because bacteria thrive in a warm, damp, moist environment. Also, exposure to large amounts of water tends to wash away the oily, waxy substance that normally lines and protects the ear canal. “Then the antibacterial protection is lost, bacteria begins to enter, and it can get out of hand,” says Jay E. Caldwell, M.D., director of the Alaska Sports Medicine Clinic in Anchorage.

External ear infections don’t just occur in swimmers or in the summertime. “We see them all year round,” says Kamerer. Getting water in the ear from showers may cause them, but sometimes you don’t need to be around water at all. “People who play inside their ear canals with bobby pins or all sorts of implements sometimes get infections started by scratching the very delicate skin in the ear canal,” says Kamerer. Many people also use cotton swabs to clean their ears daily, which can actually hinder their efforts to keep their ears healthy. “The ear has a way of keeping itself clean,” says Caldwell. “Q-tips or bobby pins or whatever you put in there just scrapes the surface and breaks down the fairly resilient barrier against bacteria.” Read the rest of this entry »

Ear piercing ,nose piercing and for that matter piercing of any part of the body has to be done with the utmost care and sterile precaution. Traditional practise in India was to get the family jeweller to pierce the baby’s ear amidst much fanfare and celebration.Nowadays with awareness of the risks involved people are gravitating towards more scientific and safer approaches in ear piercing and nose piercing.

How do I decide where, when and how to do a ear piercing? Since getting your or your child’s ear pierced is something which is undertaken after much deliberation and thought it is nice to have some inside knowledge about the trends, methods and risks involved in such a procedure.

When should an ear piercing be done? Read the rest of this entry »

Sudden Ringing In One Ear

It is anticipated by the American Tinnitus Association the current almost 50 million families have felt a ringing in the ear particular moment in their life. At times, someone may experience a slight ringing or humming in this ear, however, if the ringing or humming gets constant for a good duration of time then their could be an signal overly you have Tinnitus. Sudden Ringing In One Ear

This should not be considered as a disease but rather a symptom that may be the result of nerve damage caused to the inner ear. Tinnitus may be heard in a variety of different noises. To some it may be whistling, chirping, hissing, buzzing, humming, roaring and of course ringing. The symptom may be heard in one ear or both and may vary in pitch from low, medium to high. It may also be a continuous sound or come and go intermittently.

Ear ringing causes may be connected to a variety of problems. It may be a result of continued exposure to loud noises, loss of hearing, head and neck injuries or temporomandibular joint disorder (jaw). Other major but common ear ringing causes are allergies and medicines including aspirin. Rarely, a much more serious cause of Tinnitus is a tumor which may be possible if the ringing in ear is found to be located exclusively in one ear. Sudden Ringing In One Ear

Another form of Tinnitus is called Pulsatile Tinnitus which is when a person can hear their own pulse in their ears. This type may be linked to high blood pressure, vascular disease or tumors and is also commonly found in people with allergies. If you have or are experiencing any of the mentioned symptoms of Tinnitus it is important that you first consult your doctor.

There are a several Tinnitus remedies available to stop ringing in ears that may be recommended. Some methods include hearing aids, drug therapy, masking devices and even stress therapy. Suffering from Tinnitus and Ringing in Ear? Get your life back forever by checking out Sudden Ringing In One Ear now.