My right ear seems to have finally clagged out for good so I need to talk to a surgeon.

Has anybody had any experience with ear surgeons in Melbourne repairing surfer's ear? Good experiences are preferred, but bad experiences are good to know about too.

Thanks

I found Blutac was the go, not heard of anyone using Clag in there ears

Iv had right ear opp 4 years ago, great result but im in Newcastle so cant help you down there.

I had the same thing and I saw a guy in Box Hill, Prof Bernard Lyons 03 9895 0400. He was recommended by a work colleague who's husband was an ENT surgeon. Fortunately I didn't need the surgery as he found there were other thing going on in my ear which could be treated by steroids and fixed the problem.
However, my wife had her tonsils out with him and he was excellent, no pressure was given to have the surgery but his advice was good.
Some surgeons are poor communicators but he was very good to deal with.

Been dealing with surfer's ear(s) for most of my life. About two years ago I thought the time had finally come for me to get my worst ear drilled (or chiseled) back open, thought it had finally closed for good, so I went in to see the ear doc. He said it looked a little infected so he put me on ear drops to see if that would help first, he also said that he didn't like to work on ears that are infected, so that had to be cured first.
The drops worked, and my ear opened back up to its normal 90% closure, but I could hear again. He then said that it's up to me if I want to go for the operation, noting that the bone growth often comes back, kind of like trimming a tree, especially if you go back to your old habits. I elected not to go for the operation, but I keep my ear canals dry and warm which arrests the bone growth.
Been good ever since, but plugs are a must, even foam plugs (when not dealing with water) for dry cold windy days to retain warmth, like when you go snow skiing.

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Mastbender said..
..., but plugs are a must, even foam plugs (when not dealing with water) for dry cold windy days to retain warmth, like when you go snow skiing.

I've got some ear plugs. I've never thought of using a different kind of plug, but if you're sure it works I'll give it a go.

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Mastbender said..

The drops worked, and my ear opened back up to its normal 90% closure, but I could hear again. He then said that it's up to me if I want to go for the operation,

Went to the ENT specialist 6 years ago. COULDN'T HEAR A THING in that ear. Wollongong is the surfer's ear capital. Cold, but not so cold that surfers stay out of water in winter. Mine's 90% also. More interestingly he let me look at all the (anonymous to me) photos of other surfers' ear canals. They were all 90%. So it looks like you'll only present when they get to 90%. It also looks like they don't go any further. I formulated a theory on the spot and bounced it off him. He looked at me like I was stupid. Doctors don't come across negative feedback in their studies. There's a little guy deep in your head getting chilly yelling out to close the door. So bone grows. When he's not cold any more he stops sending messages and bone growth stops...at 90%. That was 5 or 6 years ago. I had a choice to do the op, ie. "you can risk it for a while but if you get another infection it's not going to be a choice". So far so good. Keep then dry. Use blue tack, never go swimming unless you fall off. You can still hear with 90% blocked. Lose a little at 2khz apparently.

If you do go ahead try get the chisel rather than the drill. I've done both. Drilled the right ear then chiseled the left. The recovery from chisel is way quicker. But you need to find someone who has done a lot of surgeries since it requires more skill. I used a guy in Santa Cruz who has done well over a 1000 ops with the chisel but I guess that doesn't help you in Australia.

The guy in Wollongong, the Surfer's ear capital of Oz, mentioned numbers something like that. Can't remember if he's a chiseler or a driller, he did tell me.

You'd reckon one of these with a #1 tip would be the right tool for the job.

I thought the chisel and the drill were tools to do the job. The video below shows the chisel being used to take off the big chunks then the drill to do the fine work.

The choice of techniques is:

- going through s tube down the ear hole
- incision from behind the ear (basically cutting your ear off)

The down the ear hole method sounds a lot less traumatic.



The first set of drops I used made everything worse. A course of antibiotics didn't seem to do anything either. We tried some different drops and they are working well. I can hear most of the time and my ear feels a lot better.

The doctor took a swab to see what kind of bacteria was infecting my ear. In retrospect we should have done that first rather than guessing and trying different drops.

I am using Blu Tack as an ear plug to keep my ear dry. It reduces the water, but it certainly doesn't stop it completely. In the past I have tried silicone ear plugs (about the same as Blu Tack but more expensive), and Surf Ears which have so far been completely useless.

I have an appointment with a surgeon in a few weeks time. It's good to hear about successful experiences. Still not sure about how you work out if your surgeon is an expert or not.

I went public system was a great experience
Surgeon was hot nurses were hot, I was treated well
Gratis
Blu tac should keep all water out if applied proper but sometimes can spring a leak...can be reused until it starts to lose its blu tac tac elasticity at which point you risk not being able to get it out