How to Drain Fluid From Your Ears After a Plane Ride

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Dr. David Hill, and today we are going to be talking about how to drain fluid from your ears after a plane ride. Now on most short plane rides you're really going to have more of an air pressure issue than a fluid issue unless you already have a cold, or sinus infection, or bad allergies then they predispose you to having fluid in your ears. If you have one of those conditions you are going to want to talk to your doctor about specific treatments to take care of those things, also obviously bacterial ear infections we'll want antibiotics. But the problem most people experience when they ride on a plane is that air pressure is either increased or decreased in the middle ear. And prolonged decreased air pressure in the middle ear can draw fluid in. So you would like to get that out of there before the air pressure draws fluid in and causes worse problems. I brought this model of an ear to look at to see what we are talking about today. This external part of the ear is the ear canal, you don't have to worry about this. This is not where the fluid or air are. They're actually behind the ear drum in what we call the middle ear. Now the middle ear has a channel called the eustatian tube that ends inside the nose, and the job of this tube is to keep air pressure the same inside the middle ear, and in the outside world. What happens when we go on an airplane or, even a very tall elevator, or maybe skiing where you are going down very rapidly the air pressure outside the body is changing rapidly. And if there is any congestion or the eustatian tube is blocked in any way, suddenly the air pressure on the outside is different than on the inside. An airplane, of course, the pressure is less when you are up, and greater when you come down. So you probably need to go through this process twice. the safest way to open up this eustatian tube and get the air back into this area or out of this area, is to move your jaw around usually by yawning or chewing. You might find that chewing gum or hard candy helps with this. Small children, babies may nurse or take a bottle during ascent and descent in the aircraft. Slightly older children may have a snack like raisins that is chewy, and causes them to open up their eustatian tube. A lot of people will try to hold their nose and either blow air in or suck air out of the ear drum. Now the real risk for damage to the middle ear or eardrum with this is pretty small, but it is still a way that you can introduce fluid and infection into the ear, and so most ear, nose, and throat doctors don't recommend this as the way of clearing your ears. So remember when pressure is changing rapidly in an airplane you can get increased or decreased pressure or even fluid in the middle ear. And you want to get that in or out safely by moving your jaw around, chewing, sucking on something, or using a medication that opens up the eustatian tube if you have a problem like allergies or a sinus infection that would cause it to be closed. Talking about clearing your ear after a plane ride, I am Dr. David Hill."