Brief Answer: Get ear cleaned and antibiotic& steroid ear drops Detailed Answer: Hi, Thanks for the query. Habit of using ear buds frequently is many a times related to recurrent infections in the ear canals. Use of ear buds leads to small abrasions in the skin lining of the ear canal. These abraded areas are prone to super added infections and these can flare up and lead to severe painful infections. Frequent ear infections are also common in diabetic patients. So those who have frequent ear infections should get their blood sugar levels checked. You suffer from itchy ears and this leads to you using ear buds. Please get an ear examination done from an ENT and get your ear canal properly cleaned. After that one needs to follow following things: Keep ears dry (use cotton balls while taking bath), not to use ear buds (do itching with a towel placed outside the ear and rubbing/shaking the area), avoid using any oil or anything else in ears. Your present complaint of pain needs to be tackled with antibiotics and analgesics. Post resolution of this acute episode, please go for a complete ENT examination and when there is no pain, get your ears cleaned and follow the suggestions given above. For excessive itching, use of antifungal (if fungal infestation is there on ear examination), antibiotic and steroid ear drops for few days helps. Feel free to ask another query. Regards

---