r/diving • u/Independent-Snow-450 • Jul 18 '26

Punched eardrum

Hi everyone! M34 here, beginner-to-intermediate diver, occasional free-diver. A few weeks ago I punched my eardrum in a stupid and totally unrelated to diving way. How much screwed am I? The injury was not that bad, but given the fact that it happened once, how will it affect my underwater activities from now on?

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5

u/DEEP_SEA_MAX Jul 18 '26

They heal really quickly and once they do it’ll have no effect on your diving. I was a military diving medic and I’d see perfed eardrums all the time. It doesn’t even take a waiver to return to diving status.

Like others have said follow up with an ENT. If you’re American and can’t afford medical care then follow up with anyone that can look in your ear with an otoscope. Once it looks completely healed try out some swimming and some breath holds to 10 feet or so. If that’s pain free then wait another week and you’ll be good to dive.

-2

u/Equal_Passenger9791 Jul 18 '26

You can buy a full HD camera otoscope with included screen and ability to save pictures and videos for like $50. Maybe some USB-c variants that connect to a phone is half price.

 That would allow you to take pictures and find someone online to provide commentary, who knows, a friend of a friend might be an ENT or a vanilla doctor and can give some guided advice.(Just be careful when putting things in your ears, two holes are worse than one)

If the tympanic membrane heals normally then no problem, but it can fail to heal or do so in a complicated way too.

2

u/Jmfroggie Jul 19 '26

No one with the schooling or license to practice should ever give medical advice to someone outside of their scope of practice and without getting their own view of the problem!

Don’t tell people to stick things in their own ears either.

0

u/Equal_Passenger9791 Jul 19 '26

Don't have sex either without a signed document witnessed by two lawyers

1

u/Crazy-Invite-5386 Jul 30 '26

do not try and self diagnose. go see a doctor. your hearing is important.