28th October 2020

A 28-year-old military navy diver presents with left ear pain and hearing loss

A 28-year-old military navy diver presents with left ear pain and hearing loss. He has had recurrent episodes of “swimmer’s ear” on the left before, after which he has been on prophylactic topical antibiotics for the past 4 months. Inspection of his external ear canal with an otoscope reveals tenderness of the auricle while pulling the ear lobe, as well as erythema and oedema of the external ear canal with the tympanic membrane obstructed by debris with possible hyphae.

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