Ear wax removal diy or other?

[velosam]

Seems I have a build up. Over the counter remedies have not worked. Before I book specsavers would anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks

[meddyg]

Sodium bicarbonate ear drops are best -
fat (wax) + alkali -> soap + H2O

Morning and evening for 2-3 days - try n lie on your side and get someone to apply drops.
Then standing under the shower head for warm water to wash the wax out.

I retired from GP in 2017 - our nurse was always happy to clear wax - as was I.
Now it's all a nice little income generator forBoots., Specsavers and other audiologists who charge £65-100
depending on how many ears you need cleaning !

[tom_e]

We've used ear drops to soften it, for up to a week.  Then a water-squirty thing, applied carefully. 

Ours looks like this: Otex combi pack

[barakta]

It winds me up that earwax removal is no longer provided on NHS as several of my friends are full-time hearing aid users and prone to wax issues as a result and now have to find £90 a few times a year to get it done even using all the remedies suggested here regularly.

I can understand encouraging people to use remedies, but where they don't work, the service should still be NHSable.

[tom_e]

I can understand encouraging people to use remedies, but where they don't work, the service should still be NHSable.

Agree entirely.  Apart from anything else, it would be far too easy for a skint DIYer to try a bit too hard and do some damage.

[Duckfoot1606]

I have a diagnosis of excessive ear wax, sent away for 2 weeks to self administer olive oil drops and microsuction booked with the NHS nurse for 26/7

A

[Kim]

I can understand encouraging people to use remedies, but where they don't work, the service should still be NHSable.

Agree entirely.  Apart from anything else, it would be far too easy for a skint DIYer to try a bit too hard and do some damage.

Yes, as the saying goes you should never stick anything in your ear that's smaller than an audiologist.

[Beardy]

Microaudiologist are available on bay for this use. 

[Canardly]

Sodium Bicarb most effective for me. Manual ear washing kit works as well (after some days of bicarb)  although frowned upon nowadays.

[velosam]

Well I have tried everything,  oil drops and otex etc to no avail. Guess I just have to go into specsavers and then use another method to keep them clear.

My GP and local hospital have both said thy no longer do it.

[Tim Hall]

Somewhere on teh intarwebs is a write up in a Learned Journal of some sort describing how a doctor on holibobs (in Canadadadada I think) carried out ear syringing using one of those GBFO Super Soaker water pistols.

Not that I'm recommending such a course of action.

[FifeingEejit]

Somewhere on teh intarwebs is a write up in a Learned Journal of some sort describing how a doctor on holibobs (in Canadadadada I think) carried out ear syringing using one of those GBFO Super Soaker water pistols.

Not that I'm recommending such a course of action.

Was this one of those write ups of doctors doing stupid things?
Or did it actually work?

[Kim]

Have I mentioned the time my dad (an actual doctor of medicine, though sadly not botany) attempted to syringe a seed out of the ear canal of a too-young-to-know-better Kim, using water?  That went about as well as could be expected, and reinforcements had to be called in with fine tweezers and an otoscope.

[grams]

I’ve successfully used a hydraulic brake bleeding syringe after days of expensive OTC wax-dissolving remedy had no effect.

ETA: By blasting water in. If I was doing it again I’d probably start a bit more gingerly.

[Hot Flatus]

I had a total wax blockage removed by suction in a hospital in Bangkok. Was great fun.

Be careful. The ear canal is easily irritated.

[ian]

I had a total wax blockage removed by suction in a hospital in Bangkok. Was great fun.

Be careful. The ear canal is easily irritated.

I fear your special massage was done wrong. You should have asked for your money back.

In other news, one of those Karcher machines people use to clean their patios will, I'm sure, remove even the most stubborn deposit of earwax. Which we, incidentally, know is the poo of earwigs.

[Tim Hall]

Somewhere on teh intarwebs is a write up in a Learned Journal of some sort describing how a doctor on holibobs (in Canadadadada I think) carried out ear syringing using one of those GBFO Super Soaker water pistols.

Not that I'm recommending such a course of action.

Was this one of those write ups of doctors doing stupid things?
Or did it actually work?

Ooh. I found a linky!

Midway through the second load's stream, wax particles began to run out of the ear. Just after starting the third load, a large plug of wax burst forth from the patient's ear. The 3 generations of family members present took turns admiring (or recoiling from) the specimen. The patient exclaimed in joy, “I can hear again!”

The entire process was repeated for the right ear. Otoscopy was repeated, revealing both tympanic membranes to be free of cerumen, intact and in excellent condition.

The patient later reported a resumption in his nighttime ability to hear his infant son crying, which led to his being able to promptly jump out of bed and attend to his son's needs, excluding breast-feeding. This return to normal enhanced the state of their marital bliss on this island location.

Worked like a charm it seems

[hellymedic]

[Not an answer]

Once upon a time there were ear drops named 'AUDAX, which were package in a red box, with white writing...

[Polar Bear]

I don't know why but earwax isn't an issue for me.  Could the fact that when I swim and when I duck my head beneath the bath water (when washing and rinsing my hair) I don't use earplugs be a reason? 

I sometimes feel something akin to a fly on my ears near the opening of the ear canal.  A quick fingertip touch usually reveals a small lump of soft wax.  I hasten to add that I am not stuffing my finger into my ear, just touching the outer surface to "wipe away" the detritus.

[L CC]

I don't know why but earwax isn't an issue for me. 

Same, PB, same.

I also don't have very hairy ears, I have discovered when playing with Mr Smith's tiny looking into ears toy.

His are dissimilar.

Could the fact that when I swim and when I duck my head beneath the bath water (when washing and rinsing my hair) I don't use earplugs be a reason?

 
I don't use earplugs either- but I think that's an effect, not a cause. I'm entirely convinced my wax-less-ness is just the way I'm made. I never had ear trouble as a child, either. It's almost as if... people are made differently from each other...

[T42]

I believe Dremel have an attachment...

[andyoxon]

1-2 weeks of olive oil drops (from Chemists), then EZY Dose  DIY wax removal water squirty doobry from Amazon works (IME).  Kit is basically a syringe with silicone attachment which directs water onto side of ear canal...

[Kim]

I don't know why but earwax isn't an issue for me. 

Same, PB, same.

AIUI there's a genetic factor to earwax, with some people having the dry flaky kind and others having the soft slimy kind.  I'm not sure how that pertains to likelihood of blockages.  I expect shape of the ear canal is also a factor.  (Given the amount of contortion with a paediatric otoscope required to view my eardrums, I'm surprised that I never have a problem with it.)

[T42]

I don't know why but earwax isn't an issue for me. 

Same, PB, same.

AIUI there's a genetic factor to earwax, with some people having the dry flaky kind and others having the soft slimy kind.  I'm not sure how that pertains to likelihood of blockages.  I expect shape of the ear canal is also a factor.  (Given the amount of contortion with a paediatric otoscope required to view my eardrums, I'm surprised that I never have a problem with it.)

Ditto. Though the earplugs I use in the workshop look rather Marmitey at times.

[hellymedic]

'Normal' ear physiological processes create a natural flow of wax from inside to out, without build-up.

Unlucky folk don't have this flow. Stuffs in the ear obstruct the flow.

Some of us are lucky.