Swimmer’s Ear

Why does my kid’s ears smell weird? 

Well probably for a lot of reasons, but as a pediatrician, a weird-smelling and painful ear makes me concerned about otitis externa or an outer ear infection. When we talk about the outer ear, we mainly mean the ear canal (rather than an otitis media or a middle ear infection kids get with colds). The most common cause of otitis externa is a constantly wet or humid ear canal; you know, the type of canal we see when kids swim a lot—thus, the term swimmer’s ear. The best way to prevent swimmer’s ear is by trying to keep the ear canal dry after swimming and bathing. Make sure to keep kids’ hair up and away from the ears after swimming to allow the canals to naturally air out and dry.  If a kid with goes swimming, the ear canals get wet. Then if they leave their long wet hair hanging over the ears/ear canal opening, it increases the humidity and does not let air get to the canal to help dry it out. That is a recipe for an infection in the ear canal. 

If your kiddo is complaining of ear pain after spending lots of time in the water and when you touch the ear or pull on it there is more pain, then there is a high likelihood that they have an infection of the ear canal. They should see their pediatrician for an exam to be sure the infection is just in the canal. Ear drops will be started to help treat the infection and inflammation and to prevent the infection from spreading. If your child is getting these types of ear canal infections frequently, the use of swimming ear plugs and swimmer’s ear drops (a combination of rubbing alcohol and vinegar) can help to prevent infection.