Pro Ears Mask

[Bigake]

Hi Folks

I'm having a hard time with my ears this season. Went to Dr. yesterday with an inner ear infection and some trauma from a dive this past Saturday. I do all the preventitive stuff like taking medicine to help with opening sinuses and even nose sprays... I always hold my nose and blow and swallow to equalize going down but still having problems. With this said, I am now getting desperate. I saw a link about Pro Ears mask. Has anyone on here tried them and if so what is your opinion... Need help guys.. Don't want to have to give it up...
Thanks,
Steve

---------- Post Merged on July 18th, 2012 at 05:52 PM ---------- Previous Post was on July 17th, 2012 at 09:18 AM ----------

I can't believe no one has used this mask... I need you comments please...

 

[shellig]

I use it and like it. It is not perfect. I still had ear squeeze on one dive but was able to get past it eventually. I do think it helps me and even with hair in the way, I get pretty good seal on the ear cups and when they do leak I can purge pretty easily. I have gotten a serious ear infection prior to using this mask on dive trips but none (knock on wood) after (but I do put in ear drops after with vinegar/alcohol to help ensure they dry out).

For me, the seal around the nose extends down too far, any time I smile, I get a little leak... but that would be true on many masks and mine was one of the original pro-ears (all black). Not very flattering in photos but I think black reduces any glare so trade-off...

 

[supergaijin]

My wife uses it and it has effectively ended her chronic ear-infections.

I have worked with at least 6 other instructors who use it for the same reasons. Like any mask it takes some tweaking to get it right. The ear cups will not remain 100% dry all the time.

I don't know if it helps people equalise per se, as that is quite subjective.

My advice is to get one.

Unfortunately all but the IST version seems to be clear silicone, and my wife's IST mask got a tear where the tube meets the ear cup. Right now she uses the PRO EAR 2000 from Safe Dive Ltd with no problems.

 

[gert7to3]

We had a little discussion about the ProEar mask in the Diving Medicine forum recently. Here's the page:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/diving-medicine/414829-ear-trauma-15-metres-never-dive-again-3.html

Included is my recipe for converting a favorite mask to use with Pro Ear ear cups.

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

I did not like the ProEar mask. It may be a little more difficult for women to get all hair out of the way in order to have a good seal though it's not difficult to clear underwater. It's also very hard to gear up efficiently as it's time consuming, which doesn't lend itself to Galapagos diving from tenders. I found Doc's Pro Plugs a better fit for me. They keep the water out of my ears and are no trouble whatsover to use. I always found equalizing while still at the surface helped.