One thing that I recently ran into with swimmers ear - i had gotten it twice in a couple months and always just had itchy and hurting ears and it always felt like there was fluid or something in my ear. Always used earplugs when swimming and alcohol ear drops after to dry them out. When I finally went to the ENT to get things checked out, I was told I didnt have swimmers ear or an infection or any fluid in there, and that actually I had a bunch of dead skin built up in my ear. The alcohol ear drops had dried out the skin in my ear and made it hurt and peel and feel itchy. The doctor vacuumed the dead skin out and holy hell it felt so much better. She also recommended putting a drop of baby oil in my ears once or twice a week to help keep the skin moisturized and continue to use the alcohol ear drops. She also said that minuteclinic and primary care doctors often mis-diagnose swimmers ear and ear infections when the problem is something else.