It can be difficult to say tattie-bye to this troublesome ear infection

“YOUR ears are so dirty you could grow tatties in them!”

I was walking down the street last week when I heard that classic phrase uttered by a mum bemoaning the state of her lad’s ears.

Too much ear wax isn’t a good thing, but neither is trying to get rid of it all either. Wax protects your ear canal.

A woman who came in last week had become a bit obsessed with clearing her ear canal of all traces of wax.

Unfortunately, it had caused a problem. She’d paid for ear-syringing, which had irritated the delicate lining of the canal and infection subsequently took hold.

The ear is a warm, dark tunnel – the perfect place for bacteria to thrive.

We call this condition otitis externa. There are a number of different causes, including chemicals in the canal (such as shampoo), swimming, hot weather, eczema and too much, or even too little, ear wax.

The condition can cause an itchy feeling, discharge, dull hearing, a sense of having a blocked ear and discomfort or pain.

Ear drops or spray can help clear things up. They’re usually a combination of an antibiotic and a steroid and should be stopped after the length of course recommended. Overuse can lead to fungal infection.

Sometimes the infection can be quite bad and a “wick” – a piece of gauze soaked in medicine – is inserted in the ear and changed every couple of days.

If the infection is quite severe – or goes deeper than the outer ear – then antibiotic tablets are needed.

It’s important to keep the ear dry when it’s recovering. Swimmers should use a tight-fitting cap.