Parenting Advice From Your Physicians at Kaiser Permanente

One of my clearest memories from childhood is lying on my grandmother’s couch while she put eardrops in my ear. I got “swimmer’s ear,” or what doctors call otitis externa (OE), at least once every summer. It always hurt a ton—but the worst part? I couldn’t swim until it was all better!

Otitis externa is an infection of the skin in the outer ear or ear canal—the opening you can look into from the outside. Swimmer’s ear can develop in kids when water irritates the ear canal and allow bacteria or fungus to grow. It can also follow any trauma to the ear canal—even caused by earphones or scratching in the ear canal with swabs or fingernails. Swimmer’s ear infections can cause itching, soreness, and pain. They’re generally easy to treat with prescription eardrops, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen for the pain.

When a child has an OE, they will complain that their ear hurts and sometimes itches. There may be some white or yellow discharge at the opening of the ear canal. Their ear will be very tender to any movement or touch—even chewing can hurt! Kids with OE usually don’t have much fever or other symptoms. This is different from a middle ear infection or acute otitis media (AOM), which generally follows cold or allergy symptoms and doesn’t cause a tender outer ear (the pain from an AOM is deeper inside the ear.)

Kids are more likely to get a swimmer’s ear if they

• Use swabs to clean their ears or stick anything in the ear canal.
• Have certain skin conditions.
• Swim lots and don’t and don’t use a drying drop (as described below) after swimming.

If you think your child has an ear infection, call your pediatrician. While waiting for an appointment, use ibuprofen or acetaminophen to control pain, don’t let them swim, and resist the urge to stick anything in their ear. It’s okay to let them shower or bathe but try not to get water in the ear canal.

Your pediatrician will usually prescribe antibiotic ear drops and ask you to keep your child out of the water for about a week. Soon they will be back in the pool, and you can help them keep swimming all summer long with a few steps to prevent swimmer’s ear infections:

• Don’t use swabs to clean ears. Clean the outside of the ear with a washcloth or towel after bathing to remove visible ear wax.
• Don’t scratch the inside of the ear canal with anything – including your fingernails or other objects. These can cause a scratch to the canal, allowing an infection to start.
• Don’t swim in dirty water.
• Avoid using earplugs or earphones that enter into the ear canalthey can also cause enough irritation to cause an infection.
• Keep shampoo and soap out of the ear and dry ears after bathing.
• Use an over-the-counter drying ear drop (like Swim Ear or Auro Dri) after each time your child gets out of water. Or use a homemade solution of equal parts of white vinegar and rubbing alcohol. Just put several drops in the ear canal and wiggle the earlobe to get the drops to move down the canal, then repeat on the other side.

Resources for Parents:

American Academy of Pediatrics

Swimmer’s Ear in Children