Ear membrane issues?

velvetnomad91 said:Hey there,
I have a question: What does it actually mean when my doctor tells me I have "membranes" in my ears?
Basically, I went to see my doctor after a trip to Florida because some water got stuck in my ear and just wouldn't budge. She checked them out and told me it wasn't earwax, but some kind of membranes. After that, the nurse tried to flush my ears—she gave it a few good shots—but nothing would come out (the water was totally clear). Since that didn't work, she gave me some drops—glycerol—which did absolutely nothing. In fact, I stopped using them after a week because I was practically deaf; those drops are so thick they just sit in your ear and refuse to move.

Membranes? The only membrane I know about in the ear is the eardrum. Glycerol is basically an oil meant to soften any hardened buildup so a doctor can more easily flush it out with a syringe. It’s possible that this hardened buildup is exactly what’s blocking the water from draining naturally when you tilt your head.
Did you see an ENT or just a general practitioner?

So, I finally went to see my primary care physician, and she told me that there isn't actually anything hardened in there—like, no actual wax plug or any solid buildup—just those pesky membranes instead.
The weirdest part was that when I started using those drops (which are incredibly thick, by the way), I could actually feel them breaking everything down bit by bit inside my ear, almost like a slow, gradual dissolving sensation. It’s honestly such a hassle with those drops, though, because my hearing gets so muffled while I'm using them. I ended up stopping the treatment after two weeks, but even then, it took another full week before my hearing finally felt back to normal again.

li freak said:I went to see my primary care physician, and she told me there isn't actually any hardened buildup—no wax plugs or solid clumps—just these membranes.
The weird part was that when I used those drops (which are super thick), I could actually feel them breaking down bit by bit inside my ear—kind of like a slow dissolve. It’s a huge pain because those drops muffle your hearing so badly while you're using them. I stopped after two weeks, but it still took another week for my hearing to finally snap back to normal.

If you're still dealing with this, just get a referral to an ENT.