Tilting your head to the side with the affected ear facing down is the fastest way to get water out of your ear. In most cases, trapped water drains on its own within minutes using simple gravity and a few gentle techniques. If it doesn’t, you have several safe options to try at home before the water becomes a problem.
The Gravity and Tug Method
Start by tilting your head so the waterlogged ear points straight down toward the ground. While holding that position, gently pull on your earlobe to straighten the ear canal. The ear canal has a slight curve in it, and tugging the lobe helps open a straighter path for water to flow out. You can also try lying on your side for a few minutes with a towel under your head, letting gravity do the work slowly.
If that alone doesn’t clear things up, try chewing gum or exaggerating a yawn. Both movements shift the jaw and open up the tubes that connect your ear to your throat, which can release the pressure holding water in place.
The Palm Suction Technique
This one works like a plunger. Tilt your head to the side, then cup your palm flat over your ear to create a tight seal. Rapidly flatten and cup your hand against your ear several times in a row. This creates a gentle push-pull suction that can dislodge water stuck deeper in the canal. After a few plunges, tilt your head again and pull up and back on your ear to let the water drain.
You’re not pressing hard here. Light, rhythmic pressure is all it takes. If you feel pain at any point, stop.
Use a Hair Dryer on Low
A hair dryer can evaporate stubborn water that won’t shake loose. The CDC recommends setting it to the lowest heat and lowest fan speed, then holding it several inches from your ear. The warm air gently dries the canal without risk of a burn. Move the dryer slowly back and forth rather than aiming it in one spot. A minute or two is usually enough.
Drying Drops You Can Buy or Make
Over-the-counter swimmer’s ear drying drops are widely available at pharmacies. The active ingredient in most of them is 95% isopropyl alcohol in a glycerin base, which works by absorbing water and speeding evaporation inside the ear canal. You tilt your head, put in a few drops, wait about a minute, then tilt back to let everything drain out.
You can also make a similar solution at home by mixing rubbing alcohol and white vinegar in a 50/50 ratio. The alcohol dries the water, while the vinegar helps prevent bacterial growth. Use a clean dropper to place a few drops in the affected ear. One important caveat: if your ear is already painful, alcohol-based drops will sting and may not be appropriate. Skip them if you have a perforated eardrum or ear tubes.
What Not to Do
Cotton swabs are the worst tool for this job. Pushing a swab into a wet ear canal forces water and earwax deeper inside, creating a plug that traps moisture even more effectively. Beyond that, cotton swabs can puncture the eardrum. In severe cases, a swab pushed too deep can cause permanent hearing loss, prolonged vertigo, and even facial paralysis. A Cedars-Sinai specialist described a patient whose eardrum was almost completely destroyed after accidentally bumping a cotton swab deeper into her ear.
Also avoid sticking anything else in your ear: fingers, keys, pen caps, or those thin metal tools sold as ear cleaners. Your ear canal is delicate, and none of these will effectively remove water anyway.
Signs the Water Has Caused an Infection
Water that stays trapped in the ear canal for too long creates a warm, moist environment where bacteria thrive. The result is swimmer’s ear, an infection of the outer ear canal. Watch for these symptoms:
- Pain that gets worse when you tug your earlobe (this is one of the most reliable signs)
- Itchiness inside the ear canal
- A feeling of fullness or pressure in the ear
- Fluid draining from the ear
- Muffled hearing
- Redness, swelling, or warmth around the outer ear
- Swollen lymph nodes near your ear or upper neck
- Fever
Mild itching and a plugged feeling are normal right after swimming. But if your symptoms are getting worse rather than better over the course of a day or two, or if you develop ear pain and discharge, you likely need prescription ear drops to clear the infection.
How to Keep Water Out in the First Place
If you swim regularly and water in the ear is a recurring problem, moldable silicone earplugs are your best option. A study testing several commercial earplug types found that soft silicone plugs (the kind you flatten and press over the ear opening, sometimes called “pillow soft”) had the lowest rate of water getting past them during all types of swimming. Even so, no earplug is perfect: the study found water got through in 44% of ears during surface swimming and up to 88% during full submersion, depending on the plug type. Silicone plugs significantly outperformed foam and flanged styles.
After every swim, tilt your head to each side and let water drain. Drying your ears with a towel right away, or using a quick blast from a hair dryer on low, can prevent water from settling deep in the canal. If you’re prone to swimmer’s ear, a few drops of the alcohol-vinegar mixture after swimming can help keep the canal dry and slightly acidic, which discourages bacterial growth.