#8074
Rich-D-Fish - 5/04/2010 9:37 AM
Hi Ahmad,


I can say with certainty that my vented pro plugs have a small hole I can see straight through. In fact, when I wash them after a day of diving I usually blow air through that hole to make sure no ear wax or salt is building up to block the hole. My advice for your wife is to first try them in a pool, in a controlled environment. If there are no issues there, next try cold ocean water, maybe on an anchor line with the ability to go up and down without fail. When I developed my clearing difficulties it was only in the cold water of the ocean, and I felt pressure at 8-10 feet. No need to go deeper for me. I read a theory of how they work is the shock of cold water "freezes" up the ear drum for normal movement, and the trapped water behind the plug gets warmed by your head and help the ear drum to move more easily. After nearly 100 dives on these plugs now that sounds plausible. I now do notice the cold water seeping in on my first dive, and it takes a 10 seconds or so to warm up. I have also gone over a year with no ear or sinus infections. I used to get one every couple months. I do attribute this to the lesser amount of bacteria infested water flowing in and out of my ear. Good luck. I hope these plugs or possibly some other method helps your wife get back to diving soon. One last tip with the pro plugs...on some occassions when I am diving with slight head congestion (I know I know) my ear drum sometimes still sticks and I have to go back to the surface. On the surface I pinch and blow lightly. If I can clear on the surface it seems to "lubricate" the working parts of the ear drum and my next decent always goes perfect. My new routine is to always test my clearing on the surface just before I decend. So far so good.



Rich