Preventing Swimmer's Ear and ear infection

Staying cool this summer has many children turning to pools and the ocean for relief; as a result thousands of kids get swimmer's ear every summer.

 how to prevent the infection.Swimmer's ear can cause a painful earache for children and teenagers. It can be caused by sticking something, such as a cotton swab, into the ear canal to try to get water out.According to the ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Melisa Kress, swimmer's ear is actually caused by you."Risk factors for swimmer's ear are trauma to the ear canal typically from Q-tips because everyone is obsessed with cleaning their ears," Kress said. "So why do we call it swimmer's ear -- people go swimming, they get water in their ears, they feel clogged, they want to get the water out so they think 'I'm going to push this in there and it feels good and dry my ear canal.' They're scraping and everything, and it's nice and wet and moist and it's a great environment for the bacteria to grow and breed, and the ear canal completely swells close."Kress said people should never stick anything in the ear canal. Instead, she suggest simply using a hair dryer to dry the water, and if that doesn't work, she said people can buy over-the-counter drops that are basically a mix of vinegar, alcohol and water they will dry water in the ear.It's important to note the drops should not be used on a child with tubes because it will burn.One way to tell if a child has swimmer's ear and not some other type of ear infection is if the child's ear hurts when touched.