Since cutting out topical steroids my ears have been rubbish. They’ve been regularly blocked, itchy, clogged with ooze and shedding skin. If you think about it, the outer skin is free to shed flakes, and it does. Inside your ear canal, all that oozing and flaking can get caught up in wax and cause a blockage quite quickly.
I’ve been regularly using olive oil to help cleanse my poor ears and blogged about this previously in Ear Eczema – possible TSW symptom
However, recently things got worse. To cut a long story short I was almost deaf and going quietly mad so I got my ears suctioned, the new treatment in place of syringing.
My local surgery no longer offer this on the NHS so it was a smart £70 at a local ear clinic to get it done.
It worked a treat but they were surprised at how much eczema was inside my ears. They’d never seen it that bad before.
I tried to explain TSW to them but it wasn’t easy. However, they did understand and could clearly see the same process going on unhindered on the rest of my skin.
Anyway, they told me they thought I had a fungal ear infection, so I went back to the doctors to get it checked.
And what do you think they prescribed me?
Steroid ear drops.
So I politely explained that I’d rather have just a fungicidal treatment since I’d managed to cut out all steroids for a whole year and was worried about using them for this.
She also confirmed that steroids probably weren’t necessary, but the drops come ready made with acetic acid (vinegar basically), steroids and antibiotics.
She got a bit frustrated with me at one point and tried to explain, like you would to a child, in a very slow deliberate voice,
“Most people have NEVER used steroids and they can use these ear drops fine, so what are you worried about? You’ve used steroids before…”
Erm… shall I start explaining this for you again love?
Anyway, I came way with a prescription and then looked on the internet for ‘vinegar for ear treatments‘. Cider vinegar, according to Dr Google, should be a good treatment for a fungal ear infection, if in fact that is what’s happening.
So I’ve been mixing my own cider vinegar with warm water and dripping this into each ear. Then leaving my head on the side for 20 minutes to allow it to settle right in. Then insert some cotton bungs so you soak the ear in the cider vinegar concoction.
I’ve done this for a few days and already they feel so much better.
Could mother nature and a natural product help me without the need for any drugs?
They took a swab of my ear. An alarming procedure, involving the doctor appearing at my side with no warning and inserting the longest cotton wool ear bud I’ve ever seen… I really could have done with at least a ‘don’t move while I shove this potentially really dangerous thing right in your ear so it feels like it’s poking out the other side’… (clearly nothing in between) warning.
So we shall wait and see the results of the test.
I have some fungicide drops but she says the last time I used this product I had an allergic reaction to it. I am supposed to test it on my leg before I drip it into my ears! Too right… I’m really not sure I want to try it.
Sometimes I almost think google is preferable to the doctors… but what if it’s something more serious going on in my ear?
I shall keep you all updated, but I feel like a new woman already. So far, the cider vinegar has created a deluge or dry skin to force its way out of my ear. It’s permanently crinkling and a little blocked, but the stuff is moving out more easily from whence it came! All this after only a few days of doing the cider vinegar treatment.
Have you had problems with eczema in your ear?
Have you cleared a fungal infection in your ear with cider vinegar?
Should I use the stuff from the doctor?
Will my ears every work properly again?
Pardon? Sorry I can’t hear you? 😉
I had itching and some scaling in the ear canals. It cleared up after I applied a drop of tea tree oil via q-tip after bathing. I’ now on maintenance 2 times a week.
Ah yes, Tea tree does help, but I have to mix it in with some olive oil. I’ve not done this for some time, well since the last ear explosion last year so I will definitely be giving my ears a bit of tea tree oil again. Thanks again for your comment. Brilliant advice.
What’s your update? I have literally the exact same issue. I think I’m having TSW from the steroid antibiotics drops they gave me and now I have constant ear infections…mind you I haven’t had one since I was a child and I’m 34 :/ I’m going to try the apple cider vinegar! I wondered if it was fungal was well due to the insane itchiness! Thanks in advance!
Hi Samantha, yes there is an update. You might find this blog helpful: https://whatallergy.com/2019/05/10-tips-to-treat-blocked-ears-eczema-tsw/
I had to get my ears professionally unblocked twice due to the amount of skin proliferating in my ears. After that it cleared up, but the bicard of soda ear drops were the game changer. I hope this helps. I did get mine checked out as it may need different treatment if fungal. I used a combination of oils mixed to soak and the bicard to shift stuff. Good luck.
Colloidal silver is good to use for your ears safe for anything in fact internally and externally.. It’s antiseptic antiviral antifungal.
Oh Julie I have heard of this. Thanks so much, what a lovely natural remedy for me to try. Thanks so much for sharing.
Not many medicines are antifungal, in my knowledge experience? Nail infections, athletes foot and the like seem to takes ages to treat – and use similar approaches to your gp. Your approach sounds good, of course! I’ve no ideas of how to break the cycle of build up and potential infection. Hope it is still improving.
It’s all still improving, slowly, slowly and day by day. You forget the small victories when a healing process is so long and drawn out. I have to remind myself I am now working freelance and very busy. Not what you’d call full time but it allows me time for self care and healing. When I look back to last year when I left my job and couldn’t even run I am amazed how far I’ve come. It’s just slow! The ears were bad last year and it’s like some of the old areas that appeared to be getting better have flared. But I’ve got this covered. Nothing this process can throw at me will make me go back to using topical steroids. I just have to work through it. Being deaf is very frustrating though… Thanks so much for your comment.
Doc just rang me to tell me I actually have a Pseudomonas infection. So the prescription I was given would not have helped one bit. It needs antibiotics but the things I’ve been doing myself with cider vinegar ant tea tree have helped not hindered things. Who knows how it got there, but my oozing ears and excess skin production gave this little bacteria a lovely breeding ground. And it apparently does present rather like a fungal infection in appearance, but is not fungal at all. Just goes to show, a trip the doctors is often very important, and in this case at least I now know what course of treatment i need to shift it.
Thanks for sharing your natural remedy for blocked ears. It is good to know. My son sometimes gets ear infections due to allergies and I find that putting lavender essential oil on the outside of his ear seems to really help it I can start when he first notices something going off with his ears. Maybe I will try the tea tree oil too!
Thanks so much for your comment. Essential oils can be sooo useful, calming, soothing and healing. Do be careful with tea tree, it can be a bit harsh. So do a tiny test and only use a tiny amount diluted in either olive oil or cider vinegar.
This blog from Balmonds may also help, https://balmonds.co.uk/blogs/blog/best-natural-treatment-for-ear-eczema
I too have had trouble with my ears over the last 6 months or so. One ear was badly infected and had to take antibiotics and penicillin but it came back. I also have sebboreic dermatitus which just developed a year ago and was wondering if it was fungal in my ears (lots of flakes in there) and also had itchy red rashes on my neck and non-itchy redness around my mouth and chin and thought it all could be related. Went back to doctor recently and she took a swab, so instead of just an antibiotic ear spray I’ve been given gentamicin with hydrocortisone 1% as it appears there’s something bacterial going on. So yes I’m using this as I’m fed up with the itchiness around my neck and hoping it will clear that too. I was using steriods on my arms but have stopped that and only use them very sparingly now on my hands (I have a nickel and chrome allergy so my hands do suffer from contact with metals but am consciously trying to reduce this). Steriods still work for me, every the 0.5%, but do have a more potent one for my hands which works immediately. Do hope you clear your ear problem with the natural methods. I found tea tree oil and apple cider vinegar too abrasive but do enjoy acv baths.