How to Cure an Ear Infection

Ear infection is of three types, otitis media, otitis interna and otitis externa. The first infection is a middle ear infection and is the most common ear infection in infants and children. The second one is an inner ear infection; also termed as 'labyrinthitis'. Otitis externa is also known as 'swimmer's ear'; it affects the external ear. Inexpensive home remedies can be taken up to ensure cure for ear infection and symptom relief. In some cases, antibiotics may also be prescribed, if required.

Ear Infection Remedies

# Take a clean cloth, soak it in warm water and wring it out. Press the warm cloth against the infected ear for sometime until it begins to cool; repeat frequently. The warmth of the cloth will reduce the pain as well as the swelling. However, this remedy relieves pain only for the duration of its application. So, it is better to take prescribed medicines to reduce pain which may recur during the night while sleeping.

# Use a sock full of heated salt and place over the infected ear. This will draw out the fluids that may have accumulated inside the ear. Make sure that the sock isn't too hot to cause any burn to the skin of the ear.

# In case of a swimmer's ear, you can make a mixture of water and vinegar (50/50) and apply it as an ear drop into the infected ear. The vinegar creates an unfriendly pH environment for the fungus causing the ear infection.

# Before going to bed, put 2-3 drops of warm garlic oil into the ear after using a blow dryer to remove any water present in the Eustachian tube. Alternatively, drops of warm olive oil, juice of mango leaf, juice of grated onion or lobelia extract can also be used to provide relief from the ear infection. Colloidal silver is a natural antibiotic and is beneficial when used for washing the ears. Putting sweet oil and sticking a cotton ball inside the infected ear also works for most ear infections.

# Alcohol is one product which has shown effective results in curing and treating ear infections. Its use treats pathogenic infections, reduces pain by its anesthetic action and dissolves earwax. Daily administration of surgical alcohol (2-3 drops) in the affected ear has shown significant improvements in curing ear infections. Usually the result is expected within a week of its use and there are no precautions to be taken, nor are there any side effects.

# Ear infection is mainly caused by bacteria and these micro organisms are 'base' by nature. So, if they are treated with something acidic, then this will neutralize the pH levels in the ear and cure the bacterial infection. So, squeezing 1-2 drops of lemon juice in the infected ear is just the thing that you need to do. However, make sure that you let the drops stay for about a few seconds and drain it out.

Note that if there is any kind of liquid or pus draining out of the ear, then it would be better not to use any kind of drops that have been mentioned above. For such ear problems, always seek help from an ear specialist instead of taking any kind of risk. The above mentioned self-care measures, usually work well for mild infections. But for curing severe cases, medications such as antibiotics may be a necessity.