how water gets stuck in your ear?

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I currently have water stuck in my ear after going swimming and I don’t understand how it’s possible.

I understand the principle of water surface tension but I have previously had a camera in my ear and it doesn’t look like water should ever get stuck in there!

I have stupidly put both tissue and a q tip in my ear (being careful not to get too close to the eardrum) and nada…..still stuck in there. Is infuriating.

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3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Try tilting your head to that side and tugging/pulling down (like towards your shoulder) on your earlobe. Do it several times if you need to, it usually works for me. I’ve also heard a cotton ball soaked in alcohols can draw the water out.

As for your ears, I think it has something to do with your Eustachian tubes

Anonymous 0 Comments

You may have some wax build up that has absorbed a bit of the water and is kinda holding it in place now. When I would tilt my head I would feel a very slow shift kinda like when water was normally in there, but under normal circumstances it would clear.

The answer ended up being heading down to the urgent care place near me and having an ear irrigation done (ear lavage?). They saw the wax and said it was blocking 90% of the canal at that point.

Easily fixed by them, though. The process is a squirt bottle and hose/nozzle that sprays a ton of warm water/solution up in there and breaks down the wax and blasts it all back out 🙂 You can get those kits for home use too, but it helps having a 2nd person.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Was on swim team, junior lifeguard for years, and eventually moving in to being an actually lifeguard for even longer. So I’ve had my fair share of water clogged ears. The thing that has always worked for me to get water out is to tilt your head towards the ear that has the water in it, like over that shoulder, then stand on the leg on the same side and jump a few times.