Once for about six months my hearing was muffled slightly and when moving around my ears or using a Q tip it sounded like dry rasping paper was in my ears or something.
Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore after one ear was basically sounding like I had a pillow over it all day, I asked my wife to get whatever it was out with a non-sharp tweezer.
She was absolutely disgusted when she removed inches long coiled up dead skin from inside my ears, it was like the skin inside my ear canal came off in one piece, it looked like a snake skin!
It was an amazing feeling of relief and hearing returning to get that crap out, never recurred. Wish I had taken a pic to share.
I haven’t seen anyone mention a proprietary softener called Cerumol. My doctor recommends it. I put a drop or two in the ear for a couple days and then use a bulb syringe to clean it out. It works well. I use the syringe in the shower.
Once, inadvertently, I discovered that keeping the ear under salt water for an hour or so also softens it. I had been swimming on back (elementary backstroke, which I can keep up nearly forever) and after I came out there was brown gunk leaking out the ear, which had been blocked and I was waiting to get home to use Cerumol. (Incidentally, “cer” is the French root for wax and “mol” the French word for soft.)
Perhaps I’m odd in this, but I find it enjoyable when a nurse softens it up and then grips the “blockage” and then starts removing it. Feels great when the sound rushes in as she pulls it out.
:eek:
You have got to be shitting me. Just how drunk do you have to be before this looks like a good idea?
Seriously, this is two steps beyond stupid. Please don’t anyone follow this course of action. The skin in your ear is very tender and chemicals that you can splash your palm with no effect would burn the living shit out your ear.
I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else, but after trying many, many different things, that’s what finally worked, and it seems not to have done me any harm. No guarantee at all that for someone else, the results wouldn’t be very different.
I’m sure there are all sorts of substances that can be put in the ear and will soften/remove wax and work for at least temporarily restoring hearing.
I’m also pretty sure that at least some of these shouldn’t be in the ear canal in that they ever are bad for the skin, cause cancer, can attract insects that will then drill into your brain, or a whole host of other reasons.
I’m sure you could also use sand paper to remove stains from your teeth and a pair of needle nose pliers to remove impacted stools from your rectum…
It is good you are willing to experiment, and I guess thank for taking one for the team…
Any liquid is a solvent; being a lipid, olive oil (or any liquid oil, actually) dissolves the hydrophobic components of earwax better than water would, and without oxydizing them first like hydrogen peroxide does.
I just took my little girl to the doctor Friday for ear pain. She had a lot of wax and I’d tried using peroxide, which made her feel even worse. She had an infection and the peroxide got trapped within wax bubbles and put a lot of pressure on her ear drum. If I’d waited it could have ruptured. Her doctor told me never to use peroxide for heavy wax and only use a few drops of alcohol after swimming to dry the ears out. Heavy wax in the ears may be due to sinus issues so it’s important to get it checked out. We now have drops, antibiotics, and Claritin and she feels so much better today.
The stuff I have been using has Carbamide Peroxide 6.5% in Anhydrous Glycerine. Did a brief search and that’s what most of them use.
Edit: Which on review, is Hydrogen Peroxide and Urea. So you know, if you don’t have it, use some Hydrogen Peroxide and then get someone to piss in your ear.
