Fungal ear infection & allergic reaction to face

I am 57 years old and a breast cancer survivor so when I started experiencing a problem with my left ear, it came totally out of the blue. I never had ear issues, ever even as a kid! At first they (ENT Dr.) said it was a bad infection and had to vacuum my ear out. Gave me Ciprodex ear drops and heavy duty antibiotics Levaquin. Seemed to work but now, two months later, same ear, same problem. Draining on my pillow at night, itchy, hard to hear, seems like if I am in a tube or underwater. Got reprimanded for getting messaging wrong at work - oh great! told me to keep the ear dry, put small amount of Lotrimin (like for jock itch) in ear canal. I was prescribed some eardrops called Zenobid I believe, but could not use them because they had benzocaine in them and I am allergic to benzocaine. No other substitute. I was also told by ENT Dr. to put 50% each of alcohol and vinegar. This will dry out excess fluid in ear. Same kind of stuff I put in my dog's ears after swimming per recommendation by veterinarian. I tried eardrop sold at Whole Foods that has tea tree oil and I know that is an antiseptic/antibacterial so am hoping this is helping. I did get some relief, but don't feel like this has completely gone away. I know it is said a low immune system can cause this and if so, I refer to my breast cancer experience for that. Problem with putting the vinegar and alcohol is you end up smelling like brined pickles. I am unhappy reading everyone's post - it seems that no one has really gotten relief from their ear problem. I am not looking forward to having continual Dr. bills trying to maintain my ear health/resolve this issue in future years. I am concerned because if this ball of fungus gets into your sinuses or lungs or other organs, it requires surgery to remove it. And if it gets in your bloodstream forget it - you are really sick. Go to established medical sites on the internet to read more about it. My concern is if it's in my ear, it's close to my sinuses, close to my nose, close to my throat, close to my lungs. Is this a ticking time bomb? How the heck do you obliterate this??

Hi Vozelle,

I have had a fungal infection in both ears for only 4 1/2 months but believe I finally found a way to heal it. I had tried food grade peroxide, tea tree oil, oil with garlic from the health food store, oil with grapefruit seed extract, probably other things that I cannot think of at this moment. And yes I had been put on lotrimin liquid, and athlete foot also liquid. One night my ears were itching so much I could not sleep so I got up and remembered reading something about Clove Oil ... which I did not have so I proceeded to using Clove Powder and all of a sudden the itching calmed down ... it felt really good. Therefore I am continuing this treatment and at the same time removing the dead fungus from my ears. I believe my ears are good now but I am afraid to stop in case there is a tiny bit left which could proliferate one more time. Yesterday I did buy the Clove Oil (I think you will want to mix it with a bit of olive oil has it will feel very strong in your ears) ... I don't know if it is as good as the powder. Anyways I am telling you maybe a bit prematurely but I thought it might give some relief and as far as I am concern .... sooner is better when you can't sleep. Please let us know how it works for you.

Yes. I'm going through it right now. I know it's an ear fungus, but I can't get anyone to treat it! The ENT wants me to go to 'therapy' for this. That's nuts, and I'm out of my mind trying to fix it. My vision is skewed, I'm constantly dizazy, and my ear (left) etches constantly. I had some relief in another country where the doctor 'vacuumed my ears out (both) but now that I'm back in the US, I can't find anyone to treat it. One doctor told my my left eardrum had been punctured at some point, so I'm assuming the fungus found its way through.

my ear nose and throat dr.wrote me a script for an athletes foot cream i used it 2 or 3 times and haven had problem since .He said it was cause by my allergies. And of course it was an antifungal cream for your feet. All i had to to was clean my ears real good with q-tip and witch hazel. and then wet q-tip with water and take cream and spread around the wet q-tip and rub around in ear as far as i could go without hurting myself

I can truly sympthise with your dilemma!  I've been battling a bacterial/fungus now yeast ear infection along with a perferated ear drum for 4 months now.  I can barely hear out of my left ear and have been on too many drops, ointments and antibiotics to drive me crazy.  I go weekly to the dr for that lovely ear vacuum which helps some, but not all.  The ENT dr told me in order to hear best again, I need to get the hole repaired, but they can't repair the hole until my ear is free from yeast and dry!! What the.... 

I am currently on Hydrocortisone and Acetic Acid Otic Solution 3 drops 4 x a day, which actually burns my ear and as of yesterday flucanozol on a daily basis for 10 days.  Hopefully that will help.  The good part is that the white yeasty stuff is no longer within my ear canals, just on the outside. 

I am very tired of this and think about going to a 3rd ENT, but thats just too much to be going through.  You would think with the advances in medicine these days, a solution, cause could be identified.  Thoughts...

its going on your pillow when you sleep and then you rub your face in it

PERMANENT CURE
I cured myself with a thyroid medicine and an elimination diet.
I had severe eczema in my ear canals. I would scratch at it and get ear infections. I thought I would eventually become deaf. I was very afraid. So I researched all of it.
I had almost no ear wax. I also had dry skin, low morning body temp, intolerance of heat/cold, very slow hair & nail growth, and other signs of low thyroid. But my thyroid blood test results showed only a bit low, but still in the normal range.
To increase ear wax production and restore normal oily skin, I took a thyroid medicine Cynoplus, which is a T4/T3 combination. I now have some ear wax and oily (not dry)skin. Before all this, I was trying all kinds of natural soaps and shampoos, body lotions, etc as the solution. Now I can use any soap or shampoo and don't need skin lotion.
I also try to have more healthy oils in my diet -- olive oil, real butter, peanut butter, etc.
Also, to fully stop eczema flare-ups, I did an elimation diet of the most common food allergens (corn, wheat, tree nuts, coffee, alcohol, gluten, etc). I found that whenever I ate the smallest amount of corn (in any form, including high fructose corn syrup [found in MANY foods and drinks], corn starch, popcorn, etc) the eczema would start within 1-2 days. This happened even after I increased my ear wax by boosting my thyroid, but the eczema was very minor -- it didn't spread to the ear canal, just at the opening and went away quickly.
I have been free of ear eczema for three months now and also feel much better overall. The Cynoplus thyroid hormone T4/T3 also cured my chronic fatigue, brain fog, frequent depression, and slow wound healing.
Research/Google elimination diet and also the symptoms of low thyroid (hypothyroidism) -- and cure yourself permanently.
If you can't afford many doctor visits or expensive U.S. medicines, or you have a doctor who is unwilling to let you try thyroid hormones, you can try another doctor -- or order online inexpensive Cynoplus from a Mexican pharmacy and start at the lowest dose. You can also order U.S. blood tests via the Internet (without a local doctor), with blood taking labs in almost every U.S. city; the test results are emailed to you.
If you can afford it, it is best to see a doctor, ask for a hard copy of blood test results, and get a prescription for U.S. medicines. Remember that even if blood tests show normal levels of thyroid hormones, but you still have many of the low thyroid symptoms, you may need to insist that your doctor let you try thyroid hormone pills -- especially if you have serious problems like eczema in you ear canal and resulting, dangerous ear infections. See if T4/T3, or T4 alone, increases ear wax production. You will know in one week if it works.

Try 3% Hydrogen peroxide, use a dropper into ear, it will fizz a bit, remove excess with cotton wool. This will kill the mould, then homopathy Silica 30 once a day and once at night until it goes away. 

I just went to d doctor 5 days ago his findings was fungal infection he prescribed me Otoquad ear drops. 3 drops 3 times a day in 2 days my ears is already fine

I have also been dealing with fungal ear infections in both ears for about a year and a half now. I was initially prescribed several different antibiotics, which only made the infections worse and caused tinnitus. Eventually I found an ENT that said the infections were fungal and the antibiotics were killing the good bacteria, allowing the fungi to grow stronger. I was prescribed a few fungal medications that did help, but didn't keep them away permanently. After some research I learned about gentian violet. A purple dye that I rubbed in my ear canals with a q tip. This did more for me than any prescription medicine, and only cost about $4. The infections still come back periodically, so I just started taking oregano oil capsules. I'm hoping these will prevent them from coming back.

Hi, I know it’s been a while you wrote this. How are you now? Did you fixed the problem? My eye is having the same problem and I been told I have fungus in my ear.