# Impacted earwax **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2006, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impacted-earwax/343397 "2006-02-07T16:08:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impacted-earwax/343397/41 "2006-02-08T21:25:20Z")
Do ear candles work for this or are they just a scam? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impacted-earwax/343397/42 "2006-02-08T22:20:22Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > Do ear candles work for this or are they just a scam? [Scam.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_098.html) ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impacted-earwax/343397/43 "2006-02-09T03:12:45Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > So, if I was to just leave the problem be, would the wax eventually dry out and work its way out of the ear canal? Or is it really necessary to go get my ears flushed again? If you leave it as is it will accumulate more and dry to a harder, harder to dislodge mass. Have you never heard of an ear spoon? Caveat. Not for personal use. See and ENT MD for safe removal! ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impacted-earwax/343397/44 "2006-02-09T12:49:19Z")
those chinese ear scoops rude me out. A lot of people have them on keychains. There are “professionals” that poke in wires - sometimes with cotton wrapped on the end and sometimes not. One of my wife’s cousins will use a wooden toothpick :o ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impacted-earwax/343397/45 "2006-02-09T14:12:21Z")
Since you mention allergies, may I suggest you read up on [Otitis Externa](http://www.aafp.org/afp/20010301/927.html). A common cause of this [infection of the ear canal](http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic350.htm), BTW is people poking around in there with cotton buds, another common cause is an allergy to over-the-counter medications for softening cerumen . Every ENT person I have ever had a lecture from is deeply against the routine use of Q-tips and the like, believing it causes far more harm than good. ---
**Author:** ![Adoptamom\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Adoptamom\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adoptamom_II)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impacted-earwax/343397/46 "2006-02-09T22:26:32Z")
For those brave enough to try it: I’ll lie down on the sofa and “soak” my inner ear with warm water and a bit of peroxide. After all of the bubbling stops, I found that taking a warm shower and using the pulse part of the adjustable shower head aimed at my ear canal flushes the gunk right on out. It’s one of those borderline things between pleasure/pain until you get the angle just right, and then ahhhhhhh… relief! I can hear again! ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impacted-earwax/343397/47 "2006-02-09T23:58:36Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > I kept going, and all of a sudden this pulpy brown blob the size of a dime plopped into the sink. Ewwwww! But I can now hear again. Thanks for the tips! I think you should have shown the blob to your idiot asshole boss, to show him what you had wanted time off to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impacted-earwax/343397/48 "2006-02-10T02:24:04Z")
> [@Adoptamom\_II](#): > > For those brave enough to try it: > > I’ll lie down on the sofa and “soak” my inner ear with warm water and a bit of peroxide. After all of the bubbling stops, I found that taking a warm shower and using the pulse part of the adjustable shower head aimed at my ear canal flushes the gunk right on out. > > It’s one of those borderline things between pleasure/pain until you get the angle just right, and then ahhhhhhh… relief! I can hear again! Close, I just do straight peroxide every couple of months, and a light shallow swab with a cotton tip swab. Then sleep (I couldn’t even make it to the shower sometimes, it throws my balance way out to get that liquid in there and I am dizzy even after I drain it out and rest a while). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impacted-earwax/343397.md?page=2)