The ear is a sensitive organ that consists of three parts – the outer, inner and middle ear. The outer ear is the part of concern here, and starts from the ear you see outside visibly, to the ear drum. Getting anything stuck in here could trigger the start of some kind of an infection in the ear. Getting mud stuck in your ear is problematic because it could contain many types of bacteria that can give you a bad ear infection. Ear drops will not help you in this regard, and you will need to flush out the mud completely. Normally, using a cotton swab in the ear is something that is highly unadvisable but in this case, there might be no choice.
Ear infections can happen quite normally during the course of a lifetime, and causes a condition called otitis – an inflammation of the ear. Children usually have a few bouts of otitis during their growing years, but after that, it rarely occurs again until something introduces bacteria into the ear canal much like you have done. The consequences of letting this get out of hand are possible deafness, and damage to the muscles of your jaw if the infection goes out of control. Not to mention the fact that your brain is also nearby. Treating this problem requires that you clean your ear. Since you mentioned mud, there is a possibility that a stone might have gotten lodged in your ear canal. This can only be removed by a doctor. If it is just grains of sand in your ear canal, simply pour a jet of warm water into your ear for at least ten minutes to clean it out.
What you do after this is more crucial. Disinfection of the ear canal is the next target, and should be done with some hydrogen peroxide. Next, get some regular alcohol that you use in the house or use some alcohol from your bar and pour it in your ear. Alcohol is a solvent and will break up the wax in your ear. Drain your ear, cover the ear canal with some cotton wool, and keep it away from cold temperatures. In time, your ear will be completely normal and you shouldn’t have to worry about this problem anymore. A word of caution here is that your ear might feel dry. Pour some olive oil and drain it when this happens.
answered by G M