Throughout my life I’ve had trouble with ear infections. I seem to be prone to them. But my left ear has been significantly worse over the last two years. I didn’t want to visit the Doctor during the COVID lockdowns of 2021. Even though I had been vaccinated I was nervous about testing positive and being sent to quarantine in one of the treatment facilities. So I self treated initially, using hydrogen peroxide and tea tree oil in an attempt to kill the infection. This had limited success.

Then I visited a General Practitioner who misdiagnosed my infection as bacterial. That Doctor cleaned out my left ear but treated it with anti-microbial medication. So there was a temporary relief but the issue recurred.

Earlier this year, before our trip home, I met with one of the few ENT Specialists in Cambodia. She was able to clean out my ear but wasn’t able to diagnose the infection due to my attempts at self-medication. I had already nuked the infection with hydrogen peroxide so she couldn’t determine what had caused it. She told me to come back when the infection was active so she could test it to determine what was causing it and if it were an antibiotic resistant strain. She observed that my ear canal was narrower than most people’s – perhaps the physiological cause of my frequent ear infections – and advised me to stop using headphones, earbuds, or anything else that blocked up my ears.

In late November I returned to her while my left ear was very much infected and she immediately identified mold as the culprit. She took a sample for testing, cleaned out my ear, and gave me an antifungal medication.

Ten days later I returned to see her again after the test results came back. It turned out that I had no bacterial infections active in my ear but two types of fungal infection active in my ear. She cleaned it out again and went through a checklist of all the possible sources of infection before deciding that it was likely my moto helmet. My moto helmet often gets wet from sweat or rain. It also fits snuggly, pressing against my ears, for safety reasons. She told me that I should keep on wearing it until I can clean it or get a replacement, because the fungal infection won’t kill me but a traffic accident without a helmet might. But I decided to just skip riding moto until I disinfected my moto helmet. She told me to use a solution of 1 part bleach to 10 parts water. I’m also looking for a new moto helmet but that’s easier said than done due to the size of my head.

I’ll be going back again in periodically until the fungal infection is completely gone. The ENT specialist warned me that this can take awhile because the spores are very resilient.

So there’s a horrifying health story for you. It’s probably not as bad as it sounds…but it really weirds me out to think of mold infecting my ear! I’m glad that the ENT specialist was able to diagnose it and then confirm it with tests so that, hopefully, the problem can be resolved permanently soon!