diving and ears

Question
Hi, My 11 year old son is currently diving for 7 hours a week and very, very keen.  But he's had repeated middle ear infections resulting in numerous ear drum perforations since he was a baby.  We've just seen a specialist who says the ear infections are the result of repeated episodes of tonsillitis, and wants to remove my son's tonsils, hoping that will stop the ear infections.  He said my son's ear drum has fully healed from the last perforation and he can swim again, but really didn't know about diving.  Is it safe for him to dive again, obviously stopping again if he has another ear infection?  Thanks.

Answer
Jennie -

Ear infections can be quite common in diving but usually come from different problems than your sons. Divers can get ear infections from what is called 'swimmers ear' where a small amount of water remains in the inner ear and starts the infections. Other divers land poorly on the side of their head and rupture the ear drum and have stay out of the water until the perforation heals. Since your son has a problem I am not familiar with, I do not feel qualified to say whether or not it is safe for him to dive again. I can tell you what divers here in the states do when they have ear problems.

They take some paraffin wax and mold into the problem ear so that it completely seals out any water from entering the ear canal. Then they wear a very tight fitting swim cap to make sure the wax stays in and water stays out. The next step is to very slowly descend down the side of the pool to the bottom to see if there is any painful ear pressure. If there is, they do not resume diving in the water and instead do dry land training on a trampoline or dry board.

Use your best judgement on this as his hearing is way more important than the sport.