Earache, frequent ear infections, tinnitus in the ear. Damming water that only flows out of your ear hours after the surf session due to wild head shaking. All these are signs of the so-called Surfers Ear , what ENT doctors call "ear canal exostosis." Water and wind trigger the growth of bony structures in the ear canal that don't belong there, slowly narrowing it. In the worst case, this can lead to hearing impairment or even complete hearing loss! Of course you can have a surfers ear surgery, but even for "tough" sea dogs this procedure is really no picnic.
What to do? No more surfing is definitely not an alternative, wearing watersports gear ear protection but nice!