Comments on: What a chronic ear infection looks like

By: phuzz

phuzz — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 10:45:00 +0000

One of my ears, which has had half a dozen different operations, gets an ear infection every time I get water in it (which means I always shower looking at the floor). Maybe I’ll try Ito Kagehisa’s vinegar treatment.Q-tips (which aren’t Q shaped in the UK), do clean my ear, but seem to just push crap down into the deep recesses of my ear, rather than cleaning it out.

By: mamayama

mamayama — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Ah, that explains one of the custom mixtures the ENT docs order from my pharmacy…a mixture of antibiotic and antifungal powders (chloramphenicol, sulfanilamide, and amphoteracin, usually) that are puffed into the ear, more concentrated than ear drops or systemic antibiotics. Must be trying to clobber a biofilm!

By: Chauncey Scott

Chauncey Scott — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 02:51:00 +0000

I had about 6 ear infections as a child/teenager. I have distinct memories of two being beyond terrible. (One was while on vacation at Disney World)

I am now a Q-Tip addict. My ears always feel waxy to me. I can’t say I attribute it to my infection past. And, I know as we age, our ear canals flatten out and the water/gunk isn’t as likely to get caught. But I have not had an ear issue in a long time. I also don’t poke my ear drums out. Take it for what it’s worth.

By: Chauncey Scott

Chauncey Scott — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 02:47:00 +0000

nothing grotesque at all, sir. Just showing the variance in the canal. minor discoloration and swelling.

By: Paul Renault

Paul Renault — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 02:39:00 +0000

My mother, who worked for decades as a nurse, told me that when she was trained, the rule was “the smallest thing you put in your ear is your own elbow and then only after you had wrapped your winter jacket around it.”

No, I don’t even use the Q-tips.

By: Maggie Koerth-Baker

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 01:12:00 +0000

Did cavemen have chronic ear infections?

I’m not quite sure why you’re asking this as though the answer would be, “No.”

There’s absolutely no reason to think that cavemen didn’t get (and die from) infections of all kinds, including those of the ear.

By: femtoamy

femtoamy — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 01:09:00 +0000

The images you see are actually cross-sections through the eardrum, revealing the thickening due to the biofilm. A conventional camera can only see the outer eardrum surface. Just like Ultrasound can see an unborn baby inside the body, Optical Coherence Tomography can see inside things at a much higher resolution, using a scanning laser and “tricks” with interferometry.

By: FreakCitySF

FreakCitySF — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:04:00 +0000

I say use a Q-tip once a week and let the natural human ear waxes and bacteria do their job. Did cavemen have chronic ear infections? For the longest I used a Q-tip daily. And then I got an ear infection. And it was a nasty bugger as my ear was visibly sticking out further than my other side.

Anyhow I’ve cut back Q-tip usage and so far so good.

By: Paul Renault

Paul Renault — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 22:24:00 +0000

Aaaah..biofilms. They’re why I do a quick brush of the teeth and gums, sans toothpate, before my first meal of the day.

By: Ito Kagehisa

Ito Kagehisa — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 22:22:00 +0000

3 drops of vinegar in each ear after any immersion will prevent ear infections in children. Drip it in after each bath, pull gently on the earlobe and rub the skin just below the ear until the vinegar fully penetrates, then roll the child over in your lap so the vinegar drains back out. In my family it’s then traditional to say “now you smell like a salad!” and everyone laughs.

If the child already has an ear infection the vinegar will sting! S/he may cry, and should be held and comforted so that there’s no lasting aversion to eardrops in the future. If there is no existing problem, regular cooking vinegar does not sting in your ears. It will not harm your child’s health or hearing in any case.

The infection develops because water is held in the ear by surface tension. That’s how biofilms typically grow, in unmoving water. You have them in your PVC plumbing (mine’s copper, so I don’t). The vinegar releases the water so it all drains out, leaving a thin coat of vinegar. The infection, which is bacterial or fungal, cannot survive the PH of the vinegar.

By: cdh1971

cdh1971 — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:07:00 +0000

KHAAAAAAN!

By: Daemonworks

Daemonworks — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:58:00 +0000

“a new imaging device that produces pictures from reflected light”

You mean like cameras?

By: Andrew Glines

Andrew Glines — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:30:00 +0000

I often surf with images turned off, and the days I am thankful for that are the days that BoingBoing has headlines akin to “here’s what an infection looks like”.

By: timquinn

timquinn — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:05:00 +0000

earwig!

By: cleek

cleek — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:58:00 +0000

sinus infections, too

By: Mark Dow

Mark Dow — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:48:00 +0000

“Scattered infrared light” is a better description. Optical coherence tomography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_coherence_tomography

By: Ian Wood

Ian Wood — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:37:00 +0000

My full-body biofilm functions as a rebreather underwater and as an environment suit for extra-atmospheric excursions. I call it Aldus.

By: Susan Carley Oliver

Susan Carley Oliver — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:35:00 +0000

I’m guessing it has to do with a non-visible band of light, which a conventional camera wouldn’t capture.

By: Brian Cain

Brian Cain — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:27:00 +0000

As a parent of 2 young children this article answers a lot of questions I’ve been having.

By: blueelm

blueelm — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:19:00 +0000

Wonder if this could also be a source of chronic bladder infections.

By: robdobbs

robdobbs — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:10:00 +0000

You beat me to this comment. Even the additional info of ”…the same way ultrasound makes images from reflected sound waves.” doesn’t help me understand this.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:01:00 +0000

“… a new imaging device that produces pictures from reflected light.”

Isn’t that a good description of a conventional camera?

By: BrotherPower

BrotherPower — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Seems like some kind of symbiotic nematode with sharp, pincery mouth parts and a hankering for biofilm is the answer here.

Sorry.

By: bcsizemo

bcsizemo — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:51:00 +0000

This is why I put the Q-Tip all the way in.

By: Boundegar

Boundegar — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:48:00 +0000

Those pictures made my ear hurt. >.<