ear pain after first sea dive

Question
My daughter has just come back from Thailand where she did the start of a scuba course - all the training and theory, a pool dive and then one open sea dive (with an internationally registered school) she felt that her pressure wasn't quite right on the sea dive and asked the instructor to adjust it a few times, but he eventually got impatient and pretty much said 'that will do' and pulled her down. Her ears hurt throughout the dive and afterwards. She didn't go back for the second dive the next day. Coming back on the plane to Australia two days later her ears were very sore and she was very sick and couldn't eat - although she had been fine on the way over. From your experience, what do you think is likely to have happened? Might there be any permaanent damage? Should she be looking for any treatment? Hoping to hear from you, Marita

Answer
Marita,

I apologize for the untimeliness of my reply.

The instructor of her open water dive was wrong to force your daughter to descend without proper equalization!  If your daughter was not able to equalize her ears, the dive should have been aborted.  Improper equalization of the ears could result in eardrum rupture.

At this point, I would highly recommend that you have your daughter checked by a Ear, Nose, Throat specialist to make sure there was no permanent damage.  Explain to the doctor exactly what happened, and inform the doctor of ALL symptoms your daughter is/was experiencing no matter how unrelated you think they may be.

I would also notify the certifying agency about the improper procedure the instructor subjected your daughter to.  Most SCUBA instructors follow procedures, are safety conscious, and patient with students, paying attention to their comfort levels.  It's important that the agency know about this instructor, and hopefully caution him about unsafe practices with students.

I hope your daughter's ear problems are not serious, and that you do not let one poor instructor's irresponsibility sour you on the overall SCUBA experience.

Thanks for your inquiry,

Henry Babcock
AllExperts SCUBA Expert