Eczema in the ear - especially sufferers of plugged ears

I'm writing this to share my new experiences with what was diagnosed in February as eczema in the ear. Although my mother tells me that I had infant eczema I don't recall experiencing it or any other eczema and getting it in the ear at my age is not something that I had ever heard of before. There are so many resources on the Internet but none seem to stress what I think is the important and simple mechanism to control it.

Symptoms
I've been suffering with a symptomatic plugged ear since last May (2008 - just over a year now). My ear gets plugged because the wax doesn't find a natural way to drain from the ear. Most sufferers complain of the dry skin only or severe itchiness and sore canals. I have these symptoms too and they are uncomfortable but I don't find anything as debilitating as the plugged ear.


Initial diagnosis and initial treatment
My family doctor told me it looked like dermatitis and syringed the ear (using cool water), sent me home with drops and told me to come back in a couple weeks. He looked then and said it was much better. Three months later the same again. Less than six months later it was plugged again and I decided to visit the ENT (specialist). The ENT said that as we get older (I'm 40 now) so our ears can become less efficient at processing wax so basically I will need to come have my ears cleaned our (with their special suction instrument) and what I was experiencing was effectively a natural build up of wax.

Four months later I started smelling a rat. Literally... it started on occasion but then for about three hours a day in random situations, I would start smelling a dead rat. After searching the areas I started asking others and soon realised it was only me smelling the rat. It was an infection in the tube that links the ear to the nose. I went back to the ENT and spoke to the head of the practice who finally diagnosed the problem as eczema in the ear. It finally all made sense because the 'crispy' stuff I thought was wax, was really just skin and this mixed with the wax was caused the plugged ears.

He cleaned the ears out again and it is so relieving. You go in feeling miserable and come out like a new person but when one adds up the bills it's hard to digest a 3-6 monthly visit to a specialist physician. He gave me drops and suggested that eczema in the ears is related to dandruff, and I should wash my hair and ears with a strong anti-dandruff shampoo.

Four months later I was plugged again. The ENT was busy so I tried a new one (the third ENT so far). She was great, cleaned out the ears and confirmed the diagnosis. Confirmed it was common. And... advised that I should make sure the ear stays dry. So much so that for the first ten days I must not even wash my hair. She also gave me some new ointment and yet another type of drops but they were definitely secondary to the main change that the ear must be dry.

I've now met a couple of other people who have the condition although both have had it since birth. I'm still puzzled how it only started onset at the age of 40. I am more convinced now that by keeping the ear dry one can manage the problem better.

I hope that others that experience any similar symptoms or diagnosis will share their comments at the end, so please feel free to contribute to this and maybe we can even establish or join a more specialised community.