Former New Zealand Surfing rep JC Susan shares his personal experience with Surfer's Ear:

“I have been surfing for 12 years and battling with ear infections for roughly the last 5 years. The ear infections would come and go on a regular basis and keep me out of the water for periods of time and wide awake at night.

This photo was taken a couple of hours after surgery

I started surfing when I was 12 years old and acoustic earplugs were just a dream having tried most plugs that were available at the time. The only option was Blu-Tack which blocked out water and sound. Blu-Tack was not a good option as you would isolate yourself from any conversation in the water & it made it impossible to have any timing or balance when surfing, which took the fun out of it.

The bones that were removed from my ear canal (exostosis)

In 2013 I started going to the ENT department at the hospital to get my ears assessed and find out what my options were, stronger drugs or surgery...  Finally 3 years later and a lot of ear infections and time out of the water I had my exostosis (surfers ear) surgically removed in September 2016. After 2 month recovery I’m finally back in the water. Unfortunately I have to go through this whole process again to get my other ear cleared out. Frothing…”

2 weeks after surgery the, scars in my ears were still bleeding.