Formally known as exostoses of the external ear canal
Hello
Welcome to our Website about Surfer's Ear.
We started this website in the hope that we could help surfers who have ear troubles. Misunderstandings, inaccuracies and rumors concerning complications caused by the treatment of exostoses have spread fear among surfers.
We have studied Surfer's ear at surfing contests held in Miyazaki, Japan since 2007. On this Website we will provoide information about Surfer's Ear.
Webmaster Profile: Haruka Nakanishi
Present Post : Assistant Professor
Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck surgery
Miyazaki University
Awards and Honors:
Incentive Award of Otology Japan. Oct. 2009 for the article,
"Clinical Observation On So-Called Secondary Cholesteatoma"
Otology Japan vol.18-5, 659-664,2008
Conferred from Surfer's Medical Association Aug.2011
Reference:
Incidence of External Auditory Canal Exostoses in Competitive Surfers in Japan
Otolaryngol-Head and Neck Surg. Vol145. Issue 1, July, p80-85, 2011
http://oto.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/03/14/0194599811402041
Sometimes surfer's ear occurs in avid surfers who have been surfing for a long time.
It refers to the bony prominence of external ear canal that is formally known as exostoses, and it isthought to be formed by continuous cold water stimulation.
The exostoses is not found in only professional surfers but amateurs also.
Grade 0: No visible exostosis. Grade 1: Less than one-third obstruction. Grade 2: Between one-third to two-thirds obstruction Grade 3: More than two-thirds obstruction
As a result of 373 external auditory canal examinations conducted on surfers in Japan, we found a 59.8% overall prevalence of exostoses and a positive association between the score of a surfing index and the severity of exostoses. The subjects were surfers who entered 5 surfing contests that were held in Miyazaki, Japan.
Exostoses were found in 59.8% (223) out of 373 subjects, with 31.6% being grade 1, 19.0% being grade 2, and 9.1% being grade 3.
Difficulty of water drainage in the external ear canal after surfing was found to occur frequently in subjects with grade 2 or more severe exostoses.
This figure shows the relationship between exosotoses and the surfing index.
In this figure, the vertical axis indicates the number of surfers, and the horizontal axis indicates the score of the surfing index.
The prevalence of exostoses from grade 1 to 3 increased with a higher surfing index compared to grade 0 exostosis.
When the surfing index was less than 10, grade 3 exostoses were not observed.
Compared to both grade 0 and grade 1 exostoses, the prevalence of grade 2 or more severe exostoses increased when the surfing index exceed 20 .The average surfing index was 94.9 for 81 professional surfers.
Sometimes the number of years surfing experience doesn't correlate with the severity of exotoses independently.
So, in order to predict the degree of exostosis formation, we have utilized a surfing index in this study.
Surfing index is defined as the product of the number of years as an active surfer and the number of surfing days per week.
These pictures show the external ear canal before and after the operation. This patient had surfed for about 20 years in Miyazaki, Japan.
Miyazaki has rather warm water and warm temperatures.
The obstruction causef by exostoses was decreased from 90% obstruction to about 15%.
In this case, the patients was operated both ear at a day by transcanal procedure. The duration of hospitalization was 3 days.
The skin of the external ear canal has an important function to move ear wax from outer side of ear canal. This function will be spoiled if we cover the bone surface with a skin graft from another lesion. Therefore, during operation we carefully preserve the skin and
of course we can get an quicker recovery if the skin is preserved well.
Usually this operation is undergone with general anesthesia, because the drilling noise is unpleasant for patients, and the operation time is rather long. Usually, we allow patients to start surfing after 4 or 6 weeks after the operation.
If you have any questions concerning Surfer's Ear,
Please contact us with this contact form.
Thank you.
Haruka Nakanishi
Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
University of Miyazaki
5200 Kihara Kiyotake Miyazaki 889-1602 Japan
Tel: 0985-85-2966, Fax: 0985-85-7029
since 2011 : Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery , Miyazaki University all rights reserved
