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Can you recommend a particular kit, or are they all basically the same?
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Best way to clean earwax?
- Thread starter Pearljam5000
- Start date
Can you recommend a particular kit, or are they all basically the same?
I used to get such bad earwax build up my ear canals were sometimes completely blocked.
The doctor used to flush with water but then the advice became not to but to use oil to soften the wax and the body would naturally expel the excess.
This was an irritatingly slow process.
Anyway, when I retired and stopped travelling so no longer listened regularly to ear buds I also stopped having any problem with ear wax build up. FWIW
The doctor was very much against using Q-tips in ear canals, though my wife uses them daily.
The doctor used to flush with water but then the advice became not to but to use oil to soften the wax and the body would naturally expel the excess.
This was an irritatingly slow process.
Anyway, when I retired and stopped travelling so no longer listened regularly to ear buds I also stopped having any problem with ear wax build up. FWIW
The doctor was very much against using Q-tips in ear canals, though my wife uses them daily.
My doctor recommended extra virgin olive oil. Most of the products you can buy are based on olive oil in some form. Just dribble a couple of drops in your ear and let it sit for an hour or two, preferably over night. Then get the biggest mutha of a syringe you can find, fill it with lukewarm water (optionally a bit saline) and with an even pressure rinse the offending ear canal. Repeat until all the gunk is out. The ear can contain a surprising amount of rather unprepossessing ... stuff.
An anecdote:
I build acoustic guitars. Last time I had some impacted earwax I had just strung up my latest creation with which I was not overly pleased. It sounded a bit dull. So I got my ears cleaned out. Wow, what a difference! All my guitars suddenly sounded fabulous. Especially this latest build. Such shimmering highs – palpably three dimensional trebles – a twang to die for. Sadly, within a week or so it sounded just as dull as it did when I first strung it up. It really was a bit of a dud ... sigh.
Your brain compensates for the frequency response it is 'used' to hearing. Change it radically and the brain will quickly turn the internal 'tone control' to compensate ...
Not really. Most are based on a peroxide or alcohol.
Most of the ones that actually work, yes.
Nothing smaller than your elbow was what I was told.
One size does not fit all. Q tips do not "push ear wax in" for me because I keep ahead of it like Frank's Mrs.
Peroxide is way too irritating for many people, especially me. Also alcohol is drying and irritating. Just plain q tips please for me.
I would like to know where the stupid "elbow" myth started. Your elbow is not only too big but I could only stick my elbow onto someone else's ear not my own. Maybe the originator was triple jointed. Or iggorant of biomechanics.
Peroxide is way too irritating for many people, especially me. Also alcohol is drying and irritating. Just plain q tips please for me.
I would like to know where the stupid "elbow" myth started. Your elbow is not only too big but I could only stick my elbow onto someone else's ear not my own. Maybe the originator was triple jointed. Or iggorant of biomechanics.
In the US perhaps. In this country all the earwax preparations I've seen contain olive oil.
That's rather the point. The moral being 'don't put pointy things in your ear' ...
so when a bug flies into your ear you don't get it out with your pinky because somebody made a pontifical pronouncement to morons???
Seems to be fairly sensible advice to me. Bugs don't fly into my ear so often that I have found it a problem ...
If a bug flies into your ear I would imagine allowing it to fly out would be preferable to squishing it further in with your pinkie or anything else.
MRC01
Major Contributor
The important thing is to be able to control the amount of pressure. You want enough pressure to get a good swirl but gentle to avoid blasting your eardrums. I find a simple squeeze bottle easier to control than a syringe, but either can work fine. A semi-soft anatomically shaped multi-port tip with tiny ports to limit the flow rate/pressure seems standard with most kits.
As for the fluid to use, most docs/nurses recommend isopropyl or peroxide, and you can optionally water it down with saline or distilled water if full strength causes discomfort like any residual burning sensation.
I learned this as a teenager, when my mom was an RN in the ENT dept. of the local hospital. She brought home the personal use flush kits that the hospital used.
If a bug flies into your ear, you send in a spider to get it.
That line of thinking doesn’t end well. Like the old lady who swallowed a spider. Although I’m not quite sure how you’d fit a cat in there to catch the very small bird, let alone the dog and the fatal horse.
Seems unpleasant but benign. I like the fizz of the peroxide. It sounds like the pouring of champagne.
OP
Pearljam5000
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Surprisingly this little thing filled with warm water has been really useful
This is just a syringe, you need to feel it with something. If you have big ears, you can use their rectal version:
https://azarim.co.il/media/catalog/...17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/4/1/4157.jpg
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