When water gets trapped in your ears, where is it specifically and why does this happen?
In: Biology
In the ear canal, water has some adhesive properties and it can get ‘stuck’ trying to get out, like jamming yourself into a door. You need to break the surface tension, drop a few drops of alcohol in your ear (or go up in altitude a couple of hundred feet) and it will break the tension and drain.
You can also get water trapped in your eustachian tubes, which connect your middle ear to your nasal passages and throat (nasopharynx). Sometimes water can get trapped by excess earwax. Also some people have narrow ear canals, which can make them more likely to get water trapped there. Please be careful putting anything in your ears to get the water out. If you have an ear infection or a ruptured ear drum or anything, do not pour anything in your ear without a doctor’s approval. Also, do not put a Q tip in your ear to get the water out no matter what! You are more likely to do damage than good.
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