Itchiness in ears caused by IEM tips?

[jonhapimp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnullify /img/forum/go_quote.gif moisturize your ears. use some lotion for a week and see if there's any difference. also, you might try cleaning out your ears from wax and dead skin (it accumulates). it may be that the tips are pressing something into your skin which is irritating it. The problem in my case was dry skin. a tad bit of lotion every once in a while and i haven't had much of an itchy issue since.

how and what exact places did you put the lotion on

 

[dj nellie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnullify /img/forum/go_quote.gif moisturize your ears. use some lotion for a week and see if there's any difference. also, you might try cleaning out your ears from wax and dead skin (it accumulates). it may be that the tips are pressing something into your skin which is irritating it. The problem in my case was dry skin. a tad bit of lotion every once in a while and i haven't had much of an itchy issue since.

This is a great idea. Not sure if it will work, but it sounds plausible!

I guess you could dab some moisturizer on a q-tip and gently rub it in, but probably less deep than you would use it to clean. I think most of the irritation I feel is on the outer ear, anyway.

 

[dnullify]

basically, that's the case. just apply a very small amount of lotion to your ear via q-tip, and insert very shallowly

you might try and put a really fine amount around the outer edge of the tip of your IEM (as far away from the bore as possible)

 

[Darwin022]

for the OP... I used to get itchiness from all sorts of universal IEM tips (foam or silicone), they would also tear at/abrade my ears and caused/irritated a cyst in one.

The only thing that solved it was getting custom IEM's (UE's the first time). If they are out of your budget, try a pair of custom fitted tips for your universals. Since then, the cyst has gone away, no more abrasion, only rare/occasional itching if I've had them in for more than 4-5 hours.

 

[dj nellie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darwin022 /img/forum/go_quote.gif for the OP... I used to get itchiness from all sorts of universal IEM tips (foam or silicone), they would also tear at/abrade my ears and caused/irritated a cyst in one. The only thing that solved it was getting custom IEM's (UE's the first time). If they are out of your budget, try a pair of custom fitted tips for your universals. Since then, the cyst has gone away, no more abrasion, only rare/occasional itching if I've had them in for more than 4-5 hours.

Thanks. What kind of customs do you have, and what material? I actually have the Westone UM56 custom tips (Otoblast silicon), and they do itch my ears. Not quite as much as the foam tips do though.

So I put in some moisturizer in my ears before I went to sleep. I didn't use q-tips, I basically gave myself a wet willy with my fingers. Is it possible for the lotion to seep into and clog your ears if you put it in too deep?

So far, I've been wearing my Complys for an hour now without itchiness. Seems to help, but I'll be mad if I start feeling that twitch again!

 

[TobaccoRoad]

I don't like the idea of lotion in your ears. But then again I gave up on silicone tips long time ago..

 

[Opentoe]

Not suppose to put anything into your ear except special ear cleaners or things specifically made for them. Anyway when I use any IEM my inner ear itches. More on the right than the left. Not sure what causes one to itch more than the other, but it happens. Using a qtip and spinning it inside my ear feels so damn good. I'm getting use to in-ear little by little still.

 

[julianphoto]

i used to have this issue too with the stock silicon tips from UE. then i got the comply t-500 tips and its no longer an issue for me

 

[TobaccoRoad]

But then again complys are so overpriced considering you have to replace them frequently. The reason I don't use silicone is the itch OP described and they make super/triplefi stick out of your ears more than complys. I'm still looking for an alternative other than customs.

 

[PANGES]

Sorry to bump such an old thread, but this is basically the same problem I've been having for the past several months with my IE8's. I've stopped using IEMs all together, but the problem is, I've started school again and have thought about bringing my ESW9's to class, but don't think they will isolate well enough, nor are they quite portable enough. I tried putting a tiny bit of lotion in my ear, and it didn't seem to help at all. I've been thinking about buying another set of IEM's, but am a bit worried it's still going to irritate the insides of my ears.
 
Sometimes... instead of it being itchy, the inside of my ears will even begin to hurt, not from being sore, but from feeling like some sort of physical irritation of the skin inside. I've considered the fact that perhaps I may be getting some sort of ear infection, but I'm not too sure that's the case, since the pain goes away once I stop using IEM's. =/

 

[fsrenduro]

I've read that using olive oil in your ears helps with itchiness.

 

[lcats]

Wondering why mild functional ear canal problems are not more commonly reported with IEMs.  For myself, after about an hour I get discomfort (not pain, not itchiness) with any IEMs I've tried over the years.  This is regardless of the tips, including custom ones; of course some tips are more comfortable than others, irrespective of how they sound.  Now when I was being fitted for my custom tips by the audiologist -- injecting silicone into my ear canals to make the mold, it felt wonderful, but that did not translate into how the resulting tips felt -- OK to good, but with  discomfort after a time.   Perhaps my ears canals are just too sensitive to foreign bodies.  I have been able to keep the customs in for 4 hours on a transcontinental flight, as being without music in such a circumstance seems worse than the discomfort itself.
 
I am a physician, and I see no problem with people putting olive oil or other soothing substances into the ear canal, as long as one's ear drums are intact.  In fact, hydrogen peroxide (to loosen wax) and mineral oil (for soothing the tissues) are things that are routinely prescribed for other ear ailments.  So a mild lotion would be fine, from a medical standpoint.

 

[soozieq]

Quote:

Sometimes... instead of it being itchy, the inside of my ears will even begin to hurt, not from being sore, but from feeling like some sort of physical irritation of the skin inside. I've considered the fact that perhaps I may be getting some sort of ear infection, but I'm not too sure that's the case, since the pain goes away once I stop using IEM's. =/

Before IEM's, I had about two ear infections in ten years. Since I started using IEM's three years ago, I've had at least eight infections and twelve courses of antibiotics. I clean my ears regularly and couldn't figure out why I kept getting ear infections. First, my ears would get itchy and feel sweaty.... then they'd start hurting and throbbing so much that I couldn't use phones at all.
 
When I told my doctor I was using earphones, he said I'd blocked any air getting to my ears (hence the sweatiness and itching) and that I'd been too vigorous with the ear cleaning, which had wiped away the wax barrier that was there to stop bacteria getting in.
 
His advice was to stop using Q-tips, since I obviously was too rough with them, and to to just use a damp cotton pad. He also suggested I apply the tiniest amount of E45 cream in my ears once a week to keep some moisture there.
 
I've been doing that for a year now, and I've been infection-free since then. But at one point, I thought I'd have to give up IEM's altogether, because it was a pain having to use ear drops and be without earphones for 2 weeks every time.

 

[tmarshl]

I have been trying to make IEMs work for many years. After 2 customs (JH Audio and 64 Audio) from silicone molds and laser scanning of my ear canals, and a number of universal IEMS (64 Audio U12T, etc), I thought I would try the Apple AirPods Pro 2 for plane travel. The ANC was great, the sound quality was acceptable and the comfort (with CharJenPro Hybrid tips) was excellent - for an hour. After 5 hours of wearing on a flight, my right ear canal was quite irritated. It has been a few days and the irritation is still present.

I am going back to my over-ear ANC headphones for flights (Focal Bathys). Although they are many times heavier and much larger than the AirPods Pro 2, they are far more comfortable for longer listening sessions.

I will still use my Apple AirPods Pro 2 for my walk to and from work of about 15 minutes.

My laser scans indicated the geometry of my right ear canal, which is extremely narrow. The following is my assessment of the problem: a small eartip does not seal - an eartip that seals expands my ear canal and creates irritation.