Marshall, VA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/08/2015 --During summer, elementary-age children who swim regularly often suffer from recurring ear infections. Kids are susceptible to these infections regardless of whether they spend their time in a chlorinated pool, or a non-chlorinated lake or river. They also can get ear infections regardless of whether they swim in freshwater or saltwater. None of these factors influence the frequency of ear infections, because they are caused by excess water that remains in kids' ears. There are external ear infections which are caused by excess of ear moisture and there are middle ear infections with ME fluid.
Adults, who are larger and, therefore, have wider ear canals, typically don't suffer from swimming-related ear infections as often as elementary-age children do. Additionally, some children are more prone to infections than others, because the shape of kids' ear canals affects how easily water drains out of their ears and also another factor is the presence of impacted cerumen which needs to be remove by an ENT professional such as Dr. Torres at Northern Virginia Otolaryngology Associates, PC
While some people are able to drain water from their ears by tilting their head and shaking it, this doesn't work for every child. Some kids will have water in their ears the following day -- even if they sleep with their head sideways in an effort to let water drain out during the night.
In contrast, children with recurrent or chronic ear infections during the summer, despite being prescribed antibiotics, more advanced treatment is required from an ENT. Warrenton parents who take their children to discuss other treatment options sometimes are advised to consider tubes and in those cases, the cause is in the Eustachian tube which when not functioning properly favors middle ear fluid which can get infected.
Tubes are small, hollow pieces of plastic that an ENT physician inserts in an ear canal. They provide a way for water that's stuck in the middle ear canal to drain out and to ventilate the middle ear thus preventing water from remaining in the middle ear and causing an ear infection. Once inserted, children don't feel the tubes. ENTs usually leave them in for several months and usually fall by themselves.
Most of the times children who have ear tubes could continue water activities without additional precautions.
For more information, please visit http://www.novaentdoctor.com/
Thanks to a Pediatric ENT, Warrenton Parents Find Ear Infection Relief for Their Children Who Swim
As summer draws to a close, many children who swim regularly have ear infections that they've been battling all summer. Thanks to a pediatric ENT, Warrenton parents are able to find relief from these chronic infections for their kids.