How to remove water from your ear

If water gets trapped in your ear, you can try several at-home remedies for relief.

What you need to know:

  • Make gravity do the work
  • Use a blow dryer
  • Yawn or chew
  • Use steam

If water gets trapped in your ear, you can try several at-home remedies for relief.

Make gravity do the work
Lie on your side for a few minutes, with your head on a towel to absorb the water. The water may slowly drain out of your ear.

Use a blow dryer
The heat from the dryer can help evaporate the water inside your ear canal. Set your blow dryer to its lowest setting. Hold the hair dryer about a foot away from your ear and move it in a back-and-forth motion. While tugging down on your earlobe, let the warm air blow into your ear.

Olive oil
Olive oil can also help prevent infection in your ear, as well as repel water out. Warm some olive oil in a small bowl and using a clean dropper, place a few drops of the oil into the affected ear. Lie on your other side for about 10 minutes, and then sit up and tilt the ear downward. The water and oil should drain out.

Yawn or chew
When water gets stuck in your eustachian tubes (canal that connects the middle ear to the nasopharynx), moving your mouth can sometimes help to open the tubes. Yawn or chew gum to relieve tension in your eustachian tubes. Tilt your head to release any water from your ear.

Use steam
Warm steam can help release water from your middle ear through your eustachian tubes. Try taking a hot shower, or giving yourself a mini sauna with a bowl of hot water. Fill a large bowl with hot steaming water.
Cover your head with a towel to keep the steam in, and hold your face over the bowl. Inhale the steam for five or 10 minutes, and then tilt your head to the side to drain your ear.