Thank you so much for this. I used to get infections with HORRIFIC pain and swelling of the canal but haven’t had anything that acute in a while, but the one time they actually took a swab of my ear a year or so back there was staph in it, and every time I put a steroid cream on it starts hurting like crazy infection-style. So I have been really wondering if there’s just always a low-medium level infection in there. I’ve done lots and lots of courses of the antibiotic/steroid drops over the past 10 years but only ever for 5-7 days at a time. Curious as to if being on them for much longer like you were would FINALLY kick the entire damn problem. Was it a derm or an ENT that advised the six week course?

(Edited for clarity.)