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SUMMER EAR HEALTH

“I was going to Disney World,” says Willen Feygin.
8 year old Willen Feygin couldn’t wait to get off the plane this summer during his trip to Florida and it wasn’t because of his excitement to meet Mickey and Minnie. “It felt painful,” says Willen, who suffered terribly from his ears popping.

“The pressure in your ear when the plane lands can be damaging and can result in fluid or blood entering the ear,” explains Dr. Richard Rosenfeld of Long Island College Hospital.
Popping your ears is crucial. “In air travel the key is to anticipate when the plane will land, stuff your ears and even out the pressure little by little as it starts,” reports Dr. Rosenfeld.
Dr. Rosenfeld encourages everyone to stay hydrated while in-flight and to pinch the nostrils and gently puff air out of the nose until you feel your ears pop. “Wake up infants who may be sleeping on the flight. It might make them cry and crying opens up their Eustachian tubes, ventilating their ears,” says Dr. Rosenfeld.
A product like Otovent can also be useful both in-flight and once you’ve landed. A child can simply breathe through her nose into the balloon. This helps to even out the air pressure, and protects the child’s ears from popping.
Once you’ve landed and are enjoying the sun and surf, take extra care of your ears. Swimmer’s ear is an infection of the ear canal, the tubular opening that carries sounds from the outside of the body to the ear drum.
“It rapidly becomes quite painful to the point where it keeps you up at night and some discharge may start to come out,” says Dr. Rosenfeld.
Swimmer’s ear is common in children who spend a lot of time in the water.
Too much moisture in the ear can irritate and break down the skin in the canal, allowing bacteria or fungi to penetrate. Swelling of the ear canal may make your child complain of a full or uncomfortable feeling in the ear. Hearing may temporarily be affected if pus, debris or swelling of the canal blocks the passage of sound into the ear.
“Once you start an active infection, it usually spirals pretty quickly unless you get appropriate antibiotic and you get the ear cleaned out by a professional,” says Dr. Rosenfeld.
Ear drops containing antibiotics or steroids are usually prescribed to help fight infection and reduce swelling in the ear canal.
As for Willen, he’s ready to be air-borne again now that he knows how to ease the pain. “I want to go to Canada next,” says Willen.

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