Is It Possible To Go Scuba Diving If You Have A Perforated Eardrum?
My wife has always wanted to learn to scuba dive, but she has a perforated eardrum from a series of bad infections when she was young. She is concerned that if she does go, it will rupture her eardrum and she will lose her hearing. Our doctor is not sure what will happen, and I can’t get any straight answers from the guy that runs the local dive shop. Is there some kind of a cover or plug she can wear to protect that ear when she dives. This is one of her dreams to learn this, and I really want her to be able to learn.
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Tags: diving, Eardrum, Have, Perforated, Possible, scuba
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the link on answer one seems to say maybe, maybe not. I don’t scuba, but I have ear drum damage from water skiing and every time I swim / dive deep (maybe 15-20 ft) my ear starts to hurt. like the pressure is too much. I also lost a bit of hearing so maybe the healing thing didn’t go so good. at this point I know I probably will fall on the ear again and do the damage again. i gotta think if she tries scuba lesson she’ll know pretty fast if the ear will be a problem. don’t scuba lessons start in relatively shallow water?
Here’s the scoop on the subject from the Diver’s Alert Network.http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medica…
Edit: In response to the answer below mine. There are many medical conditions that are on the fence as regards continuing diving. This is one of them. You can’t say yes, you can’t say no. It’s going to be up to the individual’s particular circumstances and severity of the condition.
Yes, scuba is taught initially in relatively shallow water, but the students are also coming close to a fairly major pressure change in that pool. Actually the greatest change there is in a short change of depth going from one atmosphere to two in the space of 15 feet. so trying it that way, without being medically cleared, is just like going all the way to 60 feet. Too late to do anything about it. If it’s going to go, it’ll happen in that pool.
While on the DAN site, it may be worth while to find a dive qualified physician in the area.
I wouldn’t take the unnecessary risk.That could hurt like a mother.