BTW, the paradoxical thing about my PA’s recommendations ("Don’t use classic 70% rubbing alcohol in your ears!") is that at the same time, the guy recommended using as I deem necessary, a prophylactic treatment of the following solution for “Swimmer’s Ear.” A one-to-one-to-one mix of something like Heinz white vinegar (~5% acetic acid) to 70% rubbing alcohol to distilled water (the guy said don’t mess with tap water and whatever might be in it). So we discussed possibly putting a drop of the above in each ear every day before going to sleep vs. treating each ear once a week with about 4 drops per ear while putting my head side-down on a table, massaging the ear after drop application, and remaining still after that for about 5 minutes before stuffing a small cotton ball just in the outermost opening of the ear canal to catch any drips after resuming normal posture-the once-a-week treatment being my choice. I didn’t want to do the everyday bit for fear that acid every day would be hard on my HA receivers if it worked its way down my mold bore holes.
To hold the olive oil and the home-brew Swimmer’s Ear treatment, I bought two brown dropper bottles on Amazon for about $4 (could only find droppers, not dropper bottles in pharmacy section of local grocery stores, Walmart, etc).
What I’m doing with the olive oil and the home-brew is very similar to what other users have described on the forum over the years. I’m just discussing the specifics of my implementation. The rationale for the prophylactic treatment is that I wear pretty tight-fitting occlusive molds that lead to high humdity inside my ear canal and potentially rub off protective wax when I insert and remove the molds and I have already had one left ear infection. An acid environment is not conducive to microbial growth (one of the principles involved in preserving food by fermentation by lactobacilli, etc.) so hopefully a once-a-week treatment with the acidic mix will help preserve the normal mildly acid environment of my ear canal.