Gross ear stories (TMI, of course)

[ivylass]

Walking down 10 years of SDMB memory lane (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=537416) and reading part of the famous pimple thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=106449) got me thinking about ears, maybe because I've been battling an ear infection for two weeks and just had my third visit with the doctor.

Let's just say they aren't kidding when they say don't use Q-tips inside your ear. I have had two lavages (the nurse squirts a solution of water, alcohol, and peroxide in your ear while you hold a bucket against your neck) and I have had two largish chunks of cotton, about the size of the swab of a Q-tip, come out. Og knows how long that's been in there. I think I would know if I lost the end of a Q-tip in my ear, so this is years of threads of cotton getting pulled off when I disregard the advice of the medical community and swab out the inside of my ear.

While I thought the solution was going to come out through my nose while the nurse was squirting, it was ultimately satisfying to see those chunks come out, but a bit horrifying to think how long they'd been in there.

At least my ear doesn't hurt any more, and it's no longer clogged. I'll pick up my new prescriptions today, but hopefully the second lavage did it. And I promise, no more Q-tips. :eek:

I know, with our vast membership, there must be someone who can top this!

[teela brown]

. . . this is years of threads of cotton getting pulled off when I disregard the advice of the medical community and swab out the inside of my ear. . . .



Yow! Really? I like to gently dry off the insides of my ears, because I can't stand the sensation of wet cold ear canals. I don't dig vigorously or anything, just blot. But the swabs shed cotton threads in there with each use? Eeek.

[sparky!]

Ewww. Now I feel like something is in my ear. Thanks!

I swab my ears every morning right after stepping out of the shower.

How far into the average human head is the ear drum, anyway (suppose I could search for that). Is it relatively easy for someone to look in your ear and see the end? Always wondered that.

[sparky!]

Yow! Really? I like to gently dry off the insides of my ears, because I can't stand the sensation of wet cold ear canals. I don't dig vigorously or anything, just blot. But the swabs shed cotton threads in there with each use? Eeek.

That's kinda what I do: I insert the swab a bit, then rotate it once around, then extract.

Dammit, I swear I feel something in my ear! :mad:

[ivylass]

Yow! Really? I like to gently dry off the insides of my ears, because I can't stand the sensation of wet cold ear canals. I don't dig vigorously or anything, just blot. But the swabs shed cotton threads in there with each use? Eeek.

Well, think about it. Earwax can be a bit sticky. You root around with a cotton swab, some of it may stay behind.

I don't know how deep the ear canal goes, but the doctor always uses some sort of equipment with a light (Qadgop?) to look inside. The last time I was there the doctor noted my ear drum was still intact, so I think they can at least see that far in.

[lee]

One day I was checking hubby's ears and i could not visualize his ear drum, neither could KellyM. in fact, it looked almost cartoonishly black in his ear even though I was using a bright flashlight. One reason I was checking his ear is he has scales that build up and need to be removed or they get bloody underneath.

I told him to be still and slowly advanced a blunt metal probe and not far in there was a solid wall. It became obvious, one the ear scales had bled enough to close off the canal. The scab was smooth and seemed to almost be one with the sides of his ear canal.

I told him to be still and used some splinter tweezers to gently probe the edges. I was able to dislodge a flake enough that I could pull on it with the tweezers. I was able to loosen a few and on the third one I tugged, the whole scab came loose and I was able to remove it. Along the edges there were large flakes.

After I removed all the detritus, I could visualize the ear drum and I had managed not to break the skin on the sides of the canal! All was well, and he said he could hear better too.

I don't like using anything pointy in the ear, but I could not get anything to move with the blunt probe or even less pointy tweezers. This is a definite, "don't try this at home folks."

[ivylass]

Wow. What is that, like a build up of earwax?

[Kyla]

My ears have a tendency to get really waxy. (My mom has the same problem, something I didn't know until I complained to her about how much trouble I was having with my ear, which I'm about to detail to a TMI-ish degree.) A couple times in my life, I've had problems where the wax got dislodged and started really affecting my hearing. Like, my head was underwater. It is HORRIBLE. Both times, it required multiple trips to the doctor to get water and hydrogen peroxide squirted into my ears.

Holy shit, the stuff that has come out of my ears. Just these huge chunks of BLACK wax. It is so fucking nasty. But it's so delightful to know that my ears are all clean.

It's been several years since the last time, though. Is there any way I can do the ear cleaning effectively at home? Anyone know?

[Ruffian]

Being pregnant honks up all kinds of body chemistries, including skin oils. Early on, I had just dozens of clogged pores on my chest that I couldn't rid myself of; this was coupled with random zits in odd (for me) places, like right next to a nostril.

My ears were apparently not spared. I do ever so rarely get a pimple in my ear; usually just right inside in the flatter part perpendicular to the lobe. They typically hurt like a MOFO, are obscenely difficult to pop, and bleed like a MOFO once popped.

Well, I felt one forming in that area of my left ear. It hurt for days, but I just couldn't get anything out of it and no head became apparent. Then, while driving (probably not the best timing), I clenched my teeth and pressed against it with my thumbnail. POP! I heard. Ah, yes. Finally. Gross, but...finally. I used a tissue to dab a slightly-larger-than normal amount of pus, but noted there was no blood. This made me think that, perhaps, it wasn't done.

When I came home, I asked hubby to see if anything more could be gotten out of it. Using two Q-tips, he pressed--and time and again it just continued to produce the same "large zit" amount. He never saw a head, or bleeding, just swollen skin and a tiny hole. He repeated his amazement time and again--"Seriously, there's more? Really?" Eventually it seemed emptied of its infectious pool; hubby commented the skin inside the ear now looked a bit like a deflated balloon.

Hours later, I asked him to try again. He got MORE--"large zit" amount. Again. Sheesh. But, that was its end.

That, I think, is the most impressive pimple I've ever had--and in the ear no less. OUCH.

[delphica]

When I was in high school, I started to have earaches that were pretty much constant. It was pain, the plugged up feeling, and my hearing was reduced. I told my mother several times, but she was fairly convinced that I was exaggerating this to stay home from school (in her defense, I had indeed done that many times, so she's not a totally terrible parent). Finally, toward the end of the school year, things got bad enough that she brought me to the doctor.

He poked around in my ears, and finally said "WTF? I think there's something metal in there!" The lavage eventually dislodged a large ball of wax, at the center of which was the metal backing of an earring encrusted with bloody scabs and that yellowy-clearish dried pus. It was like I made a pearl, but you know, a pearl of pus and earwax.

I do remember that winter falling asleep on the couch after school, and when I woke up, one of my earrings had fallen off but I could never find the backing. So we're talking at least six months.

The best part was when the doctor said "But that must have been so painful! Why didn't you come in sooner?" and my mother just slunk down in her chair.

[ivylass]

I've also heard stories of live cockroaches in the ear...is that an urban legend?

[lee]

The black thing in my husband's ear was just a scab. He has something like psoriasis which causes the skin on and in his ears to flake and if the flakes are not removed, they scab up underneath.

I once had an ear infection that was due to fluid backing up behind a zit in the ear. The doc put a wick in so the fluid behind the zit could get out and told me what was going on. The wick did its job and the skin over the zit became less raw feeling. I was able to get a pimple popper on it and cause it to splorch. After I hauled all the contents out, the swelling went down and the infection went away. Lesson learned, and to my surprise the doc agreed, pop the ear canal zits early if I can! I normally had, but the one time I decide to be good and not pop it, wham, infection!

[johnpost]

you can get plastic otoscope at drugstore to look in ear, pull ear gently back at top and you can see eardrum if canal is clear. you will see wax and spiders if not.

you can get ear syringe and peroxide and oil drops to soften and remove earwax. earwax in many people both works its way out with junk it snagged and some wax can get reabsorbed. in some people it builds up and using drops and warm water to flush a time or two a year. you can get enough earwax remaining and harden to severely attenuate your hearing.

[Spoons]

I've also heard stories of live cockroaches in the ear...is that an urban legend?I'd say yes, it is an urban legend. I'd imagine a live cockroach wouldn't stay long--there's not much room and no food. But a dead cockroach might be within reason. My wife (an audiologist) has told me stories of things she has found in people's ears. Bugs (dead ones), buttons and peas in children, Q-Tip cotton, and other objects; and more earwax than you can imagine...yep, she's seen it all. Thanks to her, I've actually been able to see my own eardrum. She had a video otoscope in her clinic--it had a small camera in it, and I could see what she was seeing on a computer monitor: my ear canal, the wax in it, the eardrum, and the bone (the malleus?) on the other side of the eardrum. Kind of neat!

I've always had problems with wax, to the point where it completely blocked the ear canal on occasion. Soon after we met, she offered to see what she could do about it. After irrigation didn't work, and a wax-busting solution didn't work, she carefully used a curette* to pull a blob the size of a pencil eraser out. The other ear proved to be too much for irrigation, the solution, and her skills with a curette; so she set me up with an appointment with one of the ENTs in her clinic. He saw me at the hospital, where he suctioned a blob the size of the last joint of my little finger out. She's kept an eye on things, and my ears have never been that bad since, but I'll admit to being very surprised at how much was there.

* Don't try this at home with any tool. My wife is a professional who is educated, licensed, regulated, and insured for these purposes. If you have problems with earwax, visit a medical/audiological professional similarly licensed etc. to practice in your area.

[lee]

Why couldn't a live cockroach get stuck in earwax? Some people have very gummy/sticky wax. I do know other bugs have gotten stuck in ears. I had one fly in mine, but it made its own way out, but I do have very dry ear wax. My cousin had some flying insect in her ear stuck fast and they flushed it out. Olive oil is generally the recommendation to both smother the bug so it will stop making all that noise and also to soften the wax so the bug can be retrieved or flushed out.

[aruvqan]

My ears have a tendency to get really waxy. (My mom has the same problem, something I didn't know until I complained to her about how much trouble I was having with my ear, which I'm about to detail to a TMI-ish degree.) A couple times in my life, I've had problems where the wax got dislodged and started really affecting my hearing. Like, my head was underwater. It is HORRIBLE. Both times, it required multiple trips to the doctor to get water and hydrogen peroxide squirted into my ears.

Holy shit, the stuff that has come out of my ears. Just these huge chunks of BLACK wax. It is so fucking nasty. But it's so delightful to know that my ears are all clean.

It's been several years since the last time, though. Is there any way I can do the ear cleaning effectively at home? Anyone know?

I lay on my side and have mrAru squirt just enough peroxide in to fill the ear canal, and I lay there with the whirlies as my earwax gets the bubble treatment. When the bubbling stops, I roll over onto a towel to drain the gak out while we repeat on the other ear. I have to do it about once a month for the wax.

[Chanteuse]

My dad once had a roach crawl into his ear while he was sleeping. It got itself trapped and was causing Dad a lot of pain as it scrabbled around and trampled his eardrum. In desperation, he got Mom to pour some sweet oil into his ear and they drowned it. At work the next day, he went to the infirmary and they extracted it. Ick.

[Spoons]

Why couldn't a live cockroach get stuck in earwax? ... I do know other bugs have gotten stuck in ears. I had one fly in mine....My dad once had a roach crawl into his ear while he was sleeping....I guess it's not an urban legend then. Consider my ignorance fought. :)

[ivylass]

And just a caveat....ear candling does nothing, except run the risk of burning your ear with hot melted wax.

[Gesturing Mildly]

Not so much gross as disturbing: I've got tiny ear canals, so I've always had trouble with ear infections and such. When I was a pre-teen, though, I went to the dr. for what I thought was an infection and found out that there was a bone growing in my ear. A BONE. WTF? Watched it for a few years, and I eventually had to have surgery to get it removed.

Also, while I was seeing the ENT doctor pre-surgery, he would often, instead of cleaning my ears with the hydrogen-peroxide syringe, use a probe with a vacuum attachment. I had the distinction of being the first kid to not try to run screaming out of the office.

[ivylass]

My doctor warned me, if I have to get referred to an ENT, they do use a suction instead of a lavage. I guess the regular GP isn't qualified or licensed to jam a vacuum up against your ear.

[HeyHomie]

One day about 12-13 years ago I was sitting at my desk when I noticed a fierce itch in my left ear. I grabbed a pen cap* and, with the "leg" end, proceeded to fish around in there until I got relief.

When I pulled the cap out I noticed a solid black chunk of earwax the size of a pea. :eek:

*Yes, I know you're not supposed to do that.

[ivylass]

Good heavens, it's a wonder we're not all half deaf!

[Mama Zappa]

Good heavens, it's a wonder we're not all half deaf!


WHAT?

(sorry, I had to!)

[gwendee]

I had that vacuum business a long time ago. I'd forgotten about it until this thead. Thanks!

A former boss had some tiny flying bug fly into her ear. She said every time it hit her eardrum was agony. She drove herself to the ER and said the 4 mile drive trying to keep her head perfectly still was the longest drive of her life.

My sister had some ear symptoms that really bothered her, but baffled her because they were intermitent. After a couple of days she went to the doctor and discovered that the source of the problem was little bits of cut hair from her haircut earlier in the week.

[tr0psn4j]

My ear lobe got infected once. It swelled up maybe a little larger than one of those rubber bouncy balls and even spread to my face. The doctor was impressed and said he had never seen anything like it. :D

I guess getting that particular part of your body infected is kind of rare. Looking back, it was probably because I had popped an annoying pimple from that same lobe.

[ivylass]

Dammit...my ear is back to hurting again.

I hope the gunk they took out to culture turns up something.

[Poysyn]

When my nephew was little he used to get a lot of ear infections. Once I noticed he had a smell, not the normal toddler odour.

He reached up to his ear and proceeded to tug out a large, gloopy strand of pussy wax. it looked like a huge booger.

He smelled better after...

[Fetchund]

You know, we get the "Don't put anything in your ears" speech from my sister in law, also an audiologist.

For at least 20 years, I have dried out my ears after every shower with a Q-tip. The doctor is always impressed that I have the cleanest, nicest ears she's ever seen... no threads hanging out in these ears!

We don't tell the sister in law either of the above... just nod and smile.

[Askance]

When my nephew was little he used to get a lot of ear infections. Once I noticed he had a smell, not the normal toddler odour.

He reached up to his ear and proceeded to tug out a large, gloopy strand of pussy wax. it looked like a huge booger.

Should one enquire at to 1/ what exactly that is and 2/ how exactly it got from there to here ? Or would one regret same?

[Ferret Herder]

Should one enquire at to 1/ what exactly that is and 2/ how exactly it got from there to here ? Or would one regret same?
The meaning was "pus-laden" rather than... that.

[Colophon]

My dad once had a roach crawl into his ear while he was sleeping.
I was woken up once by an earwig crawling into my ear. (And woken up pretty damn fast, I can tell you.)

Fortunately it came out easily enough. I switched on the light just in time to see it crawling off my pillow. :eek:

[gaffa]

Here's an ear wax thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=504427&page=2) I started earlier in the year. It has pictures!

[Nightingale]

I've also heard stories of live cockroaches in the ear...is that an urban legend?

As a former ER nurse, I can tell you that this is NOT an urban legend, although they were usually dead by the time we pulled them out of the patient's ear. I can also tell you that if it ever happens to me I will probably stab myself in ear with an icepick trying to kill the bug. The thought of a roach in my ear gives me major heebie jeebies.

[Poysyn]

As a former ER nurse, I can tell you that this is NOT an urban legend, although they were usually dead by the time we pulled them out of the patient's ear. I can also tell you that if it ever happens to me I will probably stab myself in ear with an icepick trying to kill the bug. The thought of a roach in my ear gives me major heebie jeebies.

Saw this in a movie once, about men trying to find the source for the Nile I think.

[ivylass]

Or, for a better example, Star Trek Wrath of Khan.

:D

(Must be Friday, I am in a cheeky mood.)

[Rocketeer]

Saw this in a movie once, about men trying to find the source for the Nile I think.

Mountains of the Moon

[flyboy]

For at least 20 years, I have dried out my ears after every shower with a Q-tip. The doctor is always impressed that I have.I've done the same thing, with no problems for the last 25 years. I also hate having cold, wet ears, and I MUST clean my ears after a shower. Just to be safe, I slightly dampen the q-tip, and am very careful when first inserting the q-tip so it's not sliding against my canal as it goes in. I get my ears and hearing inspected every year, and have never had a complaint or problem. On the other hand, I think I'm very lucky in that I don't produce much earwax, and what I do produce is small and flaky.

Askance, I reacted exactly like you to the pussy wax.

[ENugent]

When my brother was not quite two (so he knew a couple dozen words, maybe), he'd been playing in the yard, then came running to my mother yelling "buh-fly! buh-fly!" (He used "butterfly" for all bugs.) He was fussy and difficult for a couple of days, and kept holding his ear, so she figured he had an infection and took him to the doctor.

His ear was filled with wax, so the doctor started digging it out. When he did, he discovered a whole, dead bee, which had flown in, stung my brother's eardrum, and died.

I cannot imagine how painful that must have been.


My other story is not nearly so alarming, but is fairly high on the gross scale - a couple days after my toddler had ear tubes put in, I got a call from daycare. "We just wanted to let you know that H has lime green snot coming out of his ear. Should we be concerned?" (We used the antibiotic ear drops they had given us after his surgery for a few days, and it cleared up. No problems since, knock wood, but it's only been a couple of months.)

[Napier]

Some cats love earwax. I mean, really really love earwax.

[BaneSidhe]

My dad, rest his soul, had horrible, horrible ear wax problems. I'm not sure if it was something to do with the screwed up surgeries he'd had on his ears to try and fix his eardrums and clean out infection when he was younger or what. All I know is the stuff he used to take out of his ears was black and looked like squishy bits of coal. He could clean his ears out on Sunday night and by Tuesday they were almost full again.

He had ear surgery about 10 years before he died to try and fix his ears one last time, and the surgery used skin from behind his ear to reconstruct the eardrum. Plus, the doctor had to detach his ears [Well hello there, Mister Van Gogh!] to put the replacement ear drums in, and he had to do a major, MAJOR cleaning before he could even get to the replacement site. He told me and my mom after the surgery that my dad had the waxiest ears he'd seen in his entire life.

Hubby's got some nasty ears at times, and I've seen him pull stuff out that makes HIM gag.

[ivylass]

His ear was filled with wax, so the doctor started digging it out. When he did, he discovered a whole, dead bee, which had flown in, stung my brother's eardrum, and died.

I cannot imagine how painful that must have been.




Oh, the poor little guy. That must have been horrible for him.

[Annie-Xmas]

A friend of mine once had a woodtick crawl into her ear and latch on. It swelled up with blood, and she had to go to a specialist to have it removed. I went with her, and I know this is true.

I had an ear infection and took pencillin for 14 days with no results. Then I started pouring alcohol down the ear. The first week gave a new dimension to my understanding of the word "pain," but then the infection did clear up. It took a month of alcohol treatments.

[Angel of the Lord]

I had an ear infection about a month and a half ago. It wasn't. . .well, it wasn't gross to look at. From the outside--at least at first--I looked completely normal. The ear wasn't even red or anything. But the outer ear canal was completely blocked, and I had fluid in my middle ear, and the entire array felt like it was being jabbed with red-hot pokers by Satan's head lice.

At first, it wasn't so bad. I went to my GP, and he couldn't visualize the eardrum; he said he was pretty sure it was a middle ear infection, gave me amoxicillin, and told me to clean out my ears with Debrox. It started getting better, almost went away. . .and then got a lot worse. It went from slightly hurty on Friday, to really annoying on Saturday, to "okay, didn't sleep at all and I think I need to go to urgent care" on Sunday.

Went to urgent care, they gave me Zithromax and a diagnosis of swimmer's ear, as well as a set of Cipro drops and some Darvocet. Nothing, and my ear was so swollen that I couldn't get the drops in. The pain was bad enough that I was maxing out the OK dosages on both Tylenol (including the Darvocet) and ibuprofen, and still couldn't sleep. Went to an ENT Tuesday, and he said my ear canal was awful. . .and that he was going to clean it out and insert a wick.

I'd never cried, pleaded, or begged at a doctor's office before. I did then. But he cleared me out and put in the wick and gave me Vicodin. He also gave me Cipro to start taking if things got worse; my parotid gland started swelling, though, as did my lymph nodes, and so I started the Cipro. It started to clear up a bit after that, though I had to go for two followups, and a followup coming up to see if I have any permanent hearing loss (because the entire ear was eventually involved). My ear still doesn't feel quite right.

But, oh, the vacuuming. You can hear *everything* when it's right next to your eardrum. It was slurping and wet and grosser than anything ever. I didn't get to see any of it, but the ear did start draining onto my pillow when I slept. That was pretty yellow-crusty-gross.

Plus--not exactly my ear, but three antibiotics, one after another? In a woman? Got my first ever yeast infection, which certainly didn't help matters. Ended up with yet another prescription to get rid of *that* when the OTC (which was taken between the zithromax and the Cipro) didn't work. Fun.

Other than that, I had an earring back stuck in my lobe for 2-3 years. I dug it out during 8th grade history. It didn't really hurt at all; I thought it was kinda cool.

[lee]

There are videos on youtube of earwax removal and live foreign body removal from the ear.

[ivylass]

There are videos on youtube of earwax removal and live foreign body removal from the ear.

Thanks, but I just ate lunch.

[kittenblue]

After reading all these stories, I will NEVER stop cleaning my ears daily with Q-Tips

[appleciders]

I've also heard stories of live cockroaches in the ear...is that an urban legend?

I don't know about cockroaches, but my mother did once get an earwig stuck in her ear which my father extracted, along with lots of screaming on her part as she felt the thing wiggling. And my sister had a large moth removed from her ear once by the doctor, so I don't think a small cockroach is beyond the scope of possibility.

[truthbot]

Do gross earlobes count?

Back in junior high school, circa 1970; I encountered the grossest earlobe I have ever seen in my life. One of the girls from my class had pierced her own ears with a less than sterile sewing needle over the weekend. During the course of the week, I had noticed her right earlobe growing red and swelling very badly.

At lunchtime on Friday, she was in the girls' room probing at her angry lobe in front of the large mirror above the sinks. She complained that it itched more than hurt, and kept squeezing it. Until the dam burst. A huge pus-bomb hit the mirror with a wet splotch, and just hung there.

The girl exclaimed "Oh, that feels so much better!" The rest of us observers were trying hard not to harf up our lunches. Yuck!

[Guinastasia]

I remember my ear being really blocked up years ago, and when I initially went to see my doctor, she looked at it, and advised me to try oh, what's it called - Debrox? The earwax melting stuff? So I did, but it only made it worse. I now had fluid in my ear, and it was extremely painful.

So I called again to have it flushed out. This time, I made an appointment with whoever was available.

So I go to get my ear flushed. OUCH, that fucking HURT. Well, it seems that the wax build up was so freaking dense, that all the Debrox did was melt it on the surface, so it was still stuck there, and the rest of it was packed inside.

Soooo, he proceeds to flush my ears. Eventually out pops this HUGE piece of wax the size of a grape. My shoulder, despite wearing a towel around my neck, is absolutely soaked. (The next time I had this done, I wore a rain coat!) I swear, I could hear echoes in my ear now, it was so clean.

[gaffa]

So I go to get my ear flushed. OUCH, that fucking HURT. Well, it seems that the wax build up was so freaking dense, that all the Debrox did was melt it on the surface, so it was still stuck there, and the rest of it was packed inside.
I've never had it done professionally, but I read a site maintained by an ENT (http://www.doctorhoffman.com/wax.htm) who recommended a 1:1:2 mixture of water, vinegar and hydrogen peroxide that works better than any of the commercial earwax removal products I've tried. I was able to get this chunk out of one ear (http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/3707/eeegahgf6.jpg).

I wash out my ears every month or so. I could be wrong, by in my opinion, 99% of the pain associated with ear wax removal is not getting the liquid the right temperature. If you get the liquid at body temperature, you will barely notice it's presence. I warm the solution in the microwave, and keep checking the temp with a thermometer (though I've done it often enough that I can tell with my finger). I use a bulb syringe that I got with one of those over-priced ear cleaning kits, tilt my head to one side and fill one ear. Then I lie down on my opposite side for 15 minutes and watch some video on my iPod Touch (easier than rotating my TV 90 degrees). Get up (holding towel to ear), rinse with body temperature water, repeat for other ear.

From what I understand, the vinegar is what actually dissolves the wax, and the peroxide is what moves it out of the way.

[ivylass]

I was able to get this chunk out of one ear (http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/3707/eeegahgf6.jpg).



I clicked on it. Dear God, I clicked on it. :eek:

My lavage was warm water, alcohol, and peroxide. The new drops I have are acetic acid. I think I paid $10 for diluted vinegar.

[Nightingale]

gaffa, I don't know which is more disturbing -- that you got that out of your ear or that you felt compelled to take a picture of it.

[ivylass]

Nightingale, how do you rate clicking on the link? ;)

[lee]

gaffa, I don't know which is more disturbing -- that you got that out of your ear or that you felt compelled to take a picture of it.

Many of us appreciate the sharing of that kind of picture.

[whiterabbit]

Ooh, when I get home I am so clicking that link. It sounds revolting.

[gaffa]

Many of us appreciate the sharing of that kind of picture.
Exactly. This thing was so huge that I felt a genuine sense of accomplishment when I saw it in the sink, not unlike a two year old proudly letting Mommy know that he "made a doody". But this was from an orifice that doesn't normally produce large brown disgusting objects on a regular basis.

[whiterabbit]

Dear Og. It's horrible. Hideous.

And really cool. It must have been such a relief getting rid of that! Neat pic. Disgusting, but neat.

[Olentzero]

Huh, I been using straight up peroxide with reasonable results; never heard of mixing vinegar in with it. Is it just regular old white vinegar?

[Nightingale]

Oh, I'm mostly just jealous. It must have felt divine to get that thing out of your ear!

[gaffa]

Dear Og. It's horrible. Hideous.

And really cool. It must have been such a relief getting rid of that! Neat pic. Disgusting, but neat.
Definitely.

Huh, I been using straight up peroxide with reasonable results; never heard of mixing vinegar in with it. Is it just regular old white vinegar?
Yes, although I might try alcohol next time.

Oh, I'm mostly just jealous. It must have felt divine to get that thing out of your ear!
Very much so.

[Walker in Eternity]

I had a perforated abcess of the ear drum when I was a child. Not a good experience, it hurt like hell and when the abcess finally burst there was blood and puss all over the pillow.

A course of antibiotics cleared it up and my hearing doesn't seem to have been affected. I am prone to waxy buildup in that ear though and latelty seem to be suffering from glue ear.