I know, ear's are kind of disgusting to look at. So why post a picture of my ear?

I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase; “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Well listen up my fellow paddle surfers, river paddlers and sea kayakers. If you like to stick your head in that wave or find yourself regularly upside down, you should really consider wearing ear plugs EVERY time you paddle. And don’t think that those ear flaps on your helmet are good enough. I know from personal and painful experience and three weeks out of the water this summer that the only way to protect your ears from exostosis are good quality ear plugs. Most of the time I relied on those ear flaps to protect my ears and only rarely used Doc's Proplugs. I have paid the price.

What is exostosis? Basically it is the body’s natural defense to cold water intrusion into the ear canal. Bony growths form over time that can reduce the ear canal such that hearing can become impaired and/or in my case, water finds its way in but doesn’t want to come back out, resulting in repetitive and annoyingly uncomfortable and potentially damaging ear infections.

Whilst this condition might be well known among surfers who live in cold water regions, it is a significant issue for paddlers as well. In my case, it might have taken nearly 40 years for this condition to get severe enough for me to decide that I needed surgery, but the truth is I should probably have had the surgery at least 10 years ago. The fact that my right ear was 99% closed meant that the surgery was much more difficult because my surgeon, Dr. Agbayani was unable to see my eardrum and it necessitated a CT scan of my noggin to guide him in.

I want to refer you to an excellent article on Magic Seaweed: http://magicseaweed.com/news/surfers-ear-an-inconvenient-truth/6276/. It will tell you all you need to know about Surfer’s Ear.

As for the operation itself, I opted for the chisel as opposed to the drill. I really didn’t want to know too much about it but I was assured by Dr. Agbayani that I would not be in a lot of pain post Op. He was right – I didn’t need any of the Vicodin he prescribed me. But I am now in my third week out of the water as the skin in my ear canal has been slow to heal, most likely because I had left it too long before getting the surgery. And the intense ringing in my ear is only now slowly subsiding.

So how to avoid it? Quite simply, you need to prevent cold water entering the ear canal. Whilst Doc’s Proplugs (https://www.proplugs.com/) will do the job if you can find a size that fits your ear, you will be more assured a proper fit by spending more and getting custom ear plugs from DefendEar at www.westone.com. They cost in excess of $150 but I will be investing in them because I really don’t want to go through this again and even though I am now 51, I have no intention of keeping my head out of the water!

Below are the photos pre and post Op. They are not for the squeamish!

I hope to get the all clear next week. Wish me luck!