Does your ear feel like there's water trapped in it after a session, even if you're using earplugs?

Even with mouldable earplugs and wearing a helmet, I still suffer from that horrible feeling of water in my ears, unable to clear them and continually "clicking" as it were.

So, how best to treat water trapped in the ears, and is it Surfer's / Swimmer's Ear, Exostosis?

Last update 1st October 2025

Water trapped in the ears can result in significant discomfort and lead to infection. It could be the early stages of a more serious condition of Surfers' / Swimmers' Ear, especially as you age.

However, it can initially be treated quickly and easily, and might not be Surfer's Ear at all, and the good news is that it's not expensive!

Probably for the past twenty or so years, I've had to deal with that horrible feeling of water trapped in my ears after being out wind & kite surfing.

It did get much better, helped by having some mouldable earplugs and reaching a reasonably proficient standard where I did not wipe out so much and would manage to keep my ears almost dry; however, learning to Wing Foil and the subsequent wipe-outs (image at the top of the page) have ensured the problems with my ears have returned.

I was initially very paranoid that I had Surfer's Ear, as I knew that was a serious problem, often requiring a nasty operation, which a few friends have had.

An actual Surfer's Ear condition is known as "External Auditory Exostosis" or just simply "Exostosis".

Exostosis is abnormal bone growth in the ear canal caused by repeated exposure to cold water and the wind. This leads to a narrowing and potential ear canal blockage, where water can be trapped, and infections may develop.

So, quite naturally, when you have that feeling of water in the ear, you fear the worst, and more often than not, the ear will dry out depending on whether it's windy or not, and you soon forget all about it.

However, for me, it was not a case of being off the water and therefore no problems; I was still getting issues even when I was in the mountains and had not been out on the water for three to four months, so what was going on?

It was nearly ten years ago that I first went to an Audiology clinic, as my hearing was suffering, and I was expecting a bad prognosis.

However, forty minutes later, I walked out with a new pair of ears!

A thorough examination showed only a little bit of bone growth in one ear, and the main culprit was some fifty-odd years of wax that had built up.

Since then, I have regularly had my ears seen to; the procedure is simply the removal of wax from each ear with a powerful micro vacuum (micro suction), with the Audioologist looking through a camera to see where to "suck" next. Think of it as a sort of keyhole surgery, and all for cira £80.

Over the past ten years, my bone growth has increased a little, and when you combine that with the wax buildup, one ear is far more susceptible to water getting trapped than the other.

The best thing about getting your ears seen to is that you can walk into the clinic with a pretty chronic condition, unable to hear well and that continual feeling of water trapped in your ear, and then a while later you walk out with fantastic hearing.

My local clinic to me here in Worthing, is Hidden Hearing in Portland Road, and it is very easy to book an appointment as they actually use telephones (01903 215095) with humans to answer the phone :)

A quick inspection is made of your ears and the micro-suction procedure is explained, and in all appointments, a full ear health care check and free full hearing test is available, if required. And they can also do impressions if moulds are required.

Currently, Hidden Hearing has a deal on the procedure, £50 for the month of October (2025).

And if making an appointment, it's a prerequisite to soften the earwax up first for about 5 days with a product like Ear Calm, which is available on Amazon.

Getting your ears done is the best bang for buck you can spend on yourself!

And hopefully, it's nothing more serious than bunged-up ears; however, as I mentioned above, I was still getting problems even when I was not near the sea, so what was happening?

I found that my ears were still problematic towards the end of the ski season, and upon returning to the UK, I made an appointment at the clinic here in Worthing. Indeed, once in France I made the mistake of trying to clear the wax with some ear buds, and made it worse, so a subsequent visit to a French GP and syringing of the ears was not an enjoyable experience compared to the micro-suction, and interestingly in France, I was unable to find a clinic local to me that offered that service?

So what's the exact problem with my ears?

As some may know, reading this, I do exercise a lot, running and cycling and in the Winter I still beast myself by Cross cross-country skiing (skating) and then in the Spring I can be back on the bike one day and ski touring the next, and the issue is I "sweat like a pig" (far more than most), and that sweat rolls into my ears and along with my abnomal build up of wax I get the same issues, which are then compounded by the sweat eventually drying up (crystalising) in my ear.

So I really look forward to getting my ears done, and below are the grisly before and after images of the micro-suction procedure I had carried out today, and as you can see, the Right Ear was nigh on totally blocked, whilst the Left Ear (the one with the Exostosis) did not look too bad, however in the end that was the one that presented the most issues with the wax clearance.

So odds on, are that if you suffer from water trapped in the ear, you may not have actually developed "Surfer's Ear"; though I know some may view Surfer's Ear almost as some sort of "Badge of Honour", and that you're now a real "Surf Dude", as it's maybe all a little embarrassing to say you've actually got blocked ears due to a build up of wax :)