Drainage and itching when using AirPods Pro

I was given some Pro's for Christmas and the night after a workout, I noticed I had some drainage and assumed I had obtained an ear infection somehow. Didn't use them again for a few days and the itching and drainage stopped, used them again and the drainage came back with a vengeance that night, with severe itching and swelling in the external part of my ears. The drainage is clear, serous fluid, like that of an allergy.

I have purchased the Comply ones from Amazon and will be trying those later today.


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Posted on Jan 4, 2021 11:52 AM

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Posted on Jul 9, 2021 10:26 PM

  1. So glad I found this discussion. I’ve been trying to figure out what is going on with my ears. I have itching, crusting, flaking, pain and drainage. I thought I had some type of dermatitis I picked up and have been treating the inside of my ears for a few months. It started after I had the AirPods Pro a month or so and I thought I had touched something then transferred it to the AirPods Pro then to my ears. I completely cleaned them but my ears hurt too much when I wore them I had to stop wearing them to let my ears heal, only they didn’t heal completely so I started using my old AirPods while they did and they finally had stopped draining and were only slightly crusting but didn’t get worse. Today I had to be on a Zoom meeting at work and decided to use my AirPods Pro again for the noise canceling. I only wore them for 45 minutes and within 30 minutes after taking them out, my ears started to drain, itch and swell. Within an hour my ears were almost swollen shut and my hearing sounded like I still had cotton in my ears. It became really painful. My first thought was that I hadn’t been able to clean them well enough to remove whatever I was getting an allergic reaction to so I cleaned my ears with peroxide and applied cortisone cream. They continued to swell really bad so I took a Benadryl and finally after 2 hours the swelling is starting to go down but they are still swollen and draining. While I’m extremely upset the AirPods Pro are what has caused my ear problems and the fact that Apple has been made aware of it and chosen to ignore everyone that has posted here at least I now know the cause and won’t be using them again and will make sure everyone I know hears about it. Hopefully my ears will heal completely soon.
62 replies

Sep 25, 2021 2:08 PM in response to RGK-K2SA

Holy cow same thing for me. exactly as described. weird thing is i have no known allergies. i changed the tips to foam, problem still exists. the even weirder thing is that i have been using them for a whole year, i mean a lot with no issues, then all of a sudden it started and got real bad. It makes me think the other individual who mentioned about a coating that wears off might be it. Also would explain why used pods could also start it. I have the same ones but it didnt start for about a year! now i cant wear them at all.

Nov 27, 2021 11:45 AM in response to KellyKoch

Yes, similar experience! Especially when I use the noise cancelling feature which sort of pulls a vacuum in your ear, I get over production of earwax in my ear canals and they get very itchy. Developed a bad external ear infection on top it despite cleaning my AirPods with 70% alcohol swabs before every use. Most painful and expensive purchase!

Jan 9, 2021 8:04 PM in response to Joseph_S.

Just got earpod pro for Xmas and I’m very disappointed. The first few times I wore them they were perfect but then started giving me discomfort. Also noise cancellation isn’t working as good. There’s seems to be a seam going around the pods that sticks up and irritates the heck out of my ears! The friction has left a cut on my right ear. Are they defective? Is there any recall or is it just me having issues with this? I’m beyond bummed out about this ☹️

Sep 23, 2021 9:43 AM in response to KellyKoch

Having the same issue. I purchased and used them on and off for short spurts and would think that my ears where just getting “sweaty” and my ear canal was just a little damp from contact with the silicon. Then one day back in May I had them in for a 3-4 hours and I notice a larger amount of drainage from my ears. When I got home I had a feeling of constant drainage coming from both ears. I cleaned them as best as I could that night and the next morning I had crazy irritation fluid build up and crust in my ears. I never had this happen before. I work In a place that requires me to wear foamy PPE from time to time and I figured maybe it was a contaminant pair of those and dismissed the cause to it being that. I was prescribed some antibiotics after trying over the counter remedies to no avail. I haven’t used my EarPods pros for this entire period i avoided putting anything in my ears so they would heal faster. It started to clear up and my ears finally felt normal after 3 months. Just recently I figured I’d give them another go I love the features and sound quality and wanted to use my $200 earbud for something other than a paperweight. Here I am in September last week and I put them in to watch some YouTube for an 15min and I start feeling my ears “sweating” again. I think nothing of it. I’m mean come on it was only 15min. Then I use them getting lost in the black hole that is YouTube and feel more of the same but I keep them in for about an hour and a half. The next morning I’m back to where I started crusty runny irritated ears. I guess it back to being a paperweight for these EarPods pros till I can find a solution…this sucks.

Oct 20, 2021 9:20 AM in response to Farz15

I am not sharing my experience for the sake of getting a refund. I am sharing my experience so we can maybe figure out why this is happening with airpod pro and not other ear pods. Maybe someone will figure it out or maybe Apple will finally say something on the topic. If it is a waste of your time, then I suggest you don't take the time to reply or post about it being a waste of your time. For others, we can hopefully share our experience in order to determine perhaps what is happening and at least know it is not something wrong with just one individual.

Nov 1, 2021 9:22 AM in response to vmaks

I agree. It is not the silicone tips for me. I tried different tips and even the full airpod covers and none of them helped. Which is odd because there wasn't much else making contact with my ear. I don't know what it could be. I have never had any allergic reactions to anything in my life. I was wondering myself if it could be some reaction to the noise cancellation technology. Just seems odd that it is both ears at the same time and doesn't seem to be a problem with other non-apple devices yet.

Nov 1, 2021 9:53 AM in response to dman636

Thanks! It's strange - I can use the first gen Air Pods with no problem. My dermatologist thinks I might have a sensitivity to the silicone (or something in Apple's product) as she has seen it in others, too. Right now, my AP Pros are useless and collecting dust so I am willing to spend $20 to see if it will help.


What bothers me most is what I have spent seeing an ENT and Derm to get to the cause of this. I have never had a problem with my in-ear Bose, either. Thanks, Apple.

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Drainage and itching when using AirPods Pro

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