This study compared patients that received the topical ciprofloxacin 0.3%/dexamethasone 0.1% otic suspension with those  that received polymyxin B/neomycin/ hydrocortisone otic suspension for the treatment of acute otitis externa .The goal of the study was to compare the clinical outcome of these patients. The data was collected from various institutions in US and included patients that were more than 1 year old. 1072 patients were enrolled in the clinical trials. 537 n patients were assigned to the CD treatment group and 535 patients were assigned to the PNH group. Of the 537 patients assigned to the CD group, 452 presented with unilateral AOE while 85 presented with bilateral AOE. The mean time to cure was 0.6 day shorter in the CD group compared with that in the PNH group. These results suggest that AOE patients treated with CD achieve cure quicker than those treated with PNH.