With a perforated eardrum, it's very important to keep your ear dry until it heals. A wet ear will affect healing and may result in a serious infection.
If you get water in your ears, turn your head to each side and pull the earlobe in different directions. This will help the water run out. If your ears are still wet, use a hair dryer set on the lowest heat. Hold the dryer 8 to 10 centimetres (3 to 4 inches) from your ear.
Keep your ear dry.
It's very important to keep your ear dry if the eardrum membrane has been ruptured, because any water that gets inside the ear could lead to infection. To help with this, wear earplugs or a shower cap to cover your ears when showering, and avoid swimming.
Keep Ear Dry: If you have a ruptured eardrum, you may bathe and shower normally but do not allow water or soap to enter the ears. Placing a wad of cotton or gauze over the ear can help protect the ear. While showering you may hold the cotton in place with your finger by applying light pressure on the same.
Things you can do if you have a perforated eardrum
not putting anything in your ear, such as cotton buds or eardrops (unless your GP recommends them) not getting water in your ear – do not go swimming and be extra careful when showering or washing your hair.
A tear in the eardrum can allow bacteria and other things to get into the middle ear and inner ear. If that happens, an infection could develop that can cause more hearing loss. Most perforated eardrums heal in a few weeks. Sometimes, though, doctors need to do surgery to repair the tear.
Generally, the hole will heal up within 2 to 3 weeks, so it is particularly important to keep the ear dry during this period and to avoid pressure changes: swimming and flying should be avoided for about six weeks afterwards, to make sure that everything has healed.
Do not let your ear get wet, such as when bathing or swimming. Water may cause your damaged eardrum to heal more slowly and increase your risk for infection. Do not put anything in your ear. Never put objects such as cotton swabs in your ear.
If only one eardrum is ruptured, then they may feel more comfortable sleeping on their back or on the side of the opposite ear, with the ruptured ear facing up. Side sleeping in this way may also help ear drops to absorb, if they are prescribed or recommended by a doctor.
In many cases a perforated eardrum my never have healed on its own and is chronic. In such cases hearing loss or infections may occur. A ruptured eardrum is an eardrum that abruptly bursts. This can happen due to trauma or infection.
There are a number of signs and symptoms that can indicate a ruptured eardrum. They include some of the following: a sudden increase or decrease in pain, bloody discharge from the ear with pus, hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo or a spinning sensation, and nausea and vomiting from the vertigo.
The middle ear is the space behind the eardrum. Otitis media with effusion means there is fluid (effusion) in the middle ear, without an infection. Fluid in the middle ear can have few symptoms, especially if it develops slowly. It almost always goes away on its own in a few weeks to a few months.
A ruptured eardrum may feel like a sudden sharp pain in your ear. This usually happens if your eardrum is torn or punctured by a sharp object or because something hit your ear very hard.
Elevation (aka sleeping upright)
Sleeping sitting up can allow fluid in your ear to drain easier, as well as easing pressure and pain in your middle ear – the likely source of the infection itself. Try propping yourself up on a stack of pillows, or better yet sleep in a reclining sofa or armchair.
Most ear injuries that occur while diving are pressure injuries, or barotrauma. In the first 3 feet of a descent our ears experience 10 percent more pressure than they did at the surface. At 6 feet that percentage doubles, and at 10 feet we experience enough pressure to rupture eardrums and burst blood vessels.
Symptoms include sudden ear pain, or sudden decrease in ear pain, discharge (which may be bloody) or hearing loss. The vast majority of ruptured eardrums will heal without treatment. A simple perforation of the ear drum as part of acute otitis media does NOT need referral unless it persists > 6 weeks.
A ruptured eardrum can result in hearing loss. It can also make the middle ear vulnerable to infections. A ruptured eardrum usually heals within a few weeks without treatment. But sometimes it requires a patch or surgical repair to heal.
The basic rule is very simple: Keep pressure off the ear that has a ruptured eardrum. If you have a ruptured eardrum in just one ear, sleep on the other side of your body.
Symptoms of fluid buildup may include: Popping, ringing, or a feeling of fullness or pressure in the ear. Trouble hearing. Balance problems and dizziness.
A decrease in hearing: When your ear feels clogged, or there is a whistling or buzzing sound accompanied by a partial (or total) loss of hearing, these are often signs of a ruptured eardrum.
Think of the crunchy sound of a poor quality MP3. He also noted a significant drop it volume, and a change in tone... "like a drum skin with a hole in it, or a drum skin that has been loosened off."