When it comes to keeping your ears clean, doctors will usually advise you to avoid using anything to get the job done, as it’s possible that you could damage your eardrum and affect your hearing permanently.
Ears generally clean themselves and they’re usually very good at it, so you shouldn’t need to put anything in your ears. Simply wait and your ears should sort themselves out and, in fact, you could even end up pushing wax further into the ear canal if you try and use something like a cotton swab to fix it yourself.
If you think you have a blockage, however, it’s important that you do seek treatment as it could get a lot worse if you leave it alone. This could be anything from a mild ear irritation to actual hearing loss – so don’t wait. Make an appointment for ear syringing with South Shields consultancy North East Ear Clinic so we can help you clear the blockage successfully.
Something else to avoid is ear candling, which involves inserting a long cone-shaped candle into your ear canal, lighting it and allowing suction to draw any wax out of your ear. This can be very dangerous and you run the risk of burning yourself, so don’t try it at home.
Safe methods for ear wax removal include microsuction and endoscopic treatments. The latter involves the use of an oto-endoscope, a medical ear torch that can be rested in the ear canal, with a suction probe used to remove wax gently.
Microsuction, meanwhile, uses a binocular microscope to visualise the wax and a sterile suction probe to remove it.
