A ruptured eardrum usually heals on its own within a few weeks, but what you do during that healing window matters. The opening in your eardrum creates a direct path from the outside world into your middle ear, a space that’s normally sealed off. Certain everyday habits can introduce bacteria, increase pressure, or damage the delicate tissue trying to repair itself. Here’s what to avoid.
Don’t Let Water Get In Your Ear
This is the single most important rule. When your eardrum is intact, it acts as a waterproof barrier between your ear canal and middle ear. With a perforation, water from showers, baths, swimming pools, or lakes can flow straight through the hole and into the middle ear cavity. That water carries bacteria, and perforations exposed to water are associated with recurrent middle ear infections.
Swimming and any activity that submerges your head are off the table until the perforation has fully closed. But even daily showering poses a risk. To protect your ear while bathing, place a cotton ball coated with petroleum jelly into the opening of your ear canal, or use a waterproof earplug. This creates a simple seal that keeps water out without putting pressure on the healing membrane. Hair washing requires the same precaution. Tilt your head so the affected ear faces up, or have someone help rinse your hair while you keep the ear plugged.
Don’t Blow Your Nose Forcefully
Your middle ear connects to the back of your throat through a narrow passage called the Eustachian tube. When you blow your nose hard, air pressure surges up through that tube and pushes against the inside of your eardrum. On a healthy eardrum, this is just uncomfortable. On a healing perforation, that burst of pressure can reopen the tear, push bacteria into the middle ear, or prevent the edges of the wound from knitting together.
If you have a cold or allergies while your eardrum is healing, let your nose drain naturally or dab gently with a tissue. For congestion that won’t clear, talk to your provider about options to manage stuffiness without the pressure spike of blowing.
Don’t Put Anything In Your Ear
Cotton swabs, fingers, tissues twisted into points, earbuds: none of these belong in an ear with a perforation. Any object you insert can touch the torn edges of the eardrum and disrupt the healing tissue. It can also push earwax or debris through the hole and into the middle ear, introducing bacteria into a space with no easy way to flush them out.
Resist the urge to clean the ear canal yourself, even if you notice drainage. Some fluid leaking from the ear is normal with a perforation. Wiping the outer ear gently with a clean cloth is fine, but nothing should enter the canal.
Don’t Use Ear Drops Without Clearance
Over-the-counter ear drops designed for earaches or wax removal are formulated with the assumption that your eardrum is intact. When it isn’t, those solutions can pass through the perforation, cross into the middle ear, and reach the inner ear through a thin membrane called the round window. Several common ingredients in ear drops, including certain antibiotics in the aminoglycoside family (like neomycin and gentamicin) and some preservatives and solvents, have demonstrated potential to damage the delicate structures of the inner ear responsible for hearing and balance.
The clinical risk of permanent damage from a single exposure is low, but it’s not zero. Even prescription antibiotic drops need to be specifically chosen for use with a perforated eardrum. Never use leftover ear drops from a previous infection or borrow someone else’s medication. If your provider prescribes drops, they’ll select a formulation that’s safe to use with an open perforation.
Don’t Fly or Dive If You Can Avoid It
Air travel and scuba diving both create rapid changes in external pressure that your ear normally handles by equalizing through the Eustachian tube. With a perforation, pressure changes affect the middle ear more directly. During a flight’s descent, the pressure difference can force air through the hole, cause pain, and potentially worsen the tear. The FAA notes that ear problems during pressure changes can produce severe pain, hearing loss lasting hours to days, and fluid buildup that becomes infected.
Scuba diving is even riskier. Water pressure increases dramatically with depth, and a perforated eardrum allows cold water to flood directly into the middle ear. This can trigger sudden, intense vertigo underwater, which is dangerous for obvious reasons. Avoid diving entirely until your eardrum is confirmed healed.
If you absolutely must fly, a decongestant before the flight may help keep the Eustachian tube open, but discuss this with your provider first. Postponing the trip is the safer choice.
Don’t Ignore Signs of Infection
Some drainage and temporary hearing loss are expected with a ruptured eardrum. But certain symptoms suggest the perforation has led to a middle ear infection or a more serious complication. Watch for increasing pain rather than gradually improving pain, discharge that turns yellow-green or foul-smelling, fever, sudden worsening of hearing, dizziness or a spinning sensation, or any weakness in the muscles on the side of your face near the affected ear. These warrant prompt medical attention rather than a wait-and-see approach.
What Healing Looks Like
Most ruptured eardrums heal without any procedure. Small perforations often close within a few weeks. Larger tears can take several months. During this time, your hearing may be slightly muffled on the affected side, which gradually improves as the membrane seals.
Your provider may place a thin patch over the perforation to give the tissue a scaffold to grow across. If the tear is too large for a patch or doesn’t close on its own after several months, a surgical repair called tympanoplasty is the next step. This involves grafting a small piece of tissue over the hole, and it has a high success rate.
The key through all of this is protecting the ear from water, pressure, and foreign objects while the body does its repair work. Most of the “don’ts” are temporary, lasting only until your provider confirms the membrane has fully closed.