Which Ear Wax Cleaning to Get?

[Anonymous]

Just get your own large bulb syringe and do it yourself. Why would you want to go to a doctor for this when you could do it in a fraction of the time yourself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can get a scope with a camera on it and you guide yourself through your cell phone. I use one. I am obsessive about cleaning my ears since going deaf in one ear overnight. I don't want anything to clog the remaining good ear I have. It might take a little practice but I find it does the best job, followed by water irrigation.

I am now terrified by the idea of waking up one more newly deaf in one ear.

[Anonymous]

Debrox for 4 days and then urgent care for the water thing is the way to go

[Anonymous]

What about an ear candle ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ For a few days before the water irrigation I would suggest to use Debrox drops on your ears (follow package instructions). It will soften the ear wax and help it to come out.

If you don't use something like this beforehand, the urgent care may send you back telling you to use this for four days or so and then go back to urgent care for irrigation. It is important to soften it up before seeing an urgent care staff.

I think it depends on the texture of your earwax. We don’t all have the same earwax.

When my kids were little, they’d get a lot of earwax buildup and it was difficult for the pediatrician to flush it out of their ears with irrigation if we didn’t soften the wax first. Instead of using Debrox, she’d have me put some extra light olive oil into a tiny bottle with a dropper and then place the bottle in a cup of warm water to warm the oil gently. I was to have my child lay on their side and then fill their ear with the warm olive oil (they were little, so maybe 4 drops?) and have them stay in the same position for 5 minutes. Then I was to tuck a cotton ball into the treated ear and have them roll onto their other side and I’d repeat the procedure for the other ear. I’d lay a hand towel on their pillow in case anything leaked out of their ears. We’d do this at bedtime. If we did this for several nights before seeing the pediatrician, she could easily flush their ears. Because they kept getting earwax buildups, for while she had me do this procedure once a week, just to keep the earwax soft at all times.

When they got older, I would use a bulb syringe filled with warm water to flush their ears while they were sitting up. We’d put a towel on the shoulder underneath the ear we were flushing and my child would hold a wide bowl under their ear, pressed against their neck, to catch the water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have super small Eustachian tubes. It seems I've got a buildup of wax in my ear. My ears are oily feeling and full, which is affecting my hearing, and pushing on my tragus is the only way to get them to "pop" a little so I can hear better. They also itch and a brown wax comes out if I clean them with a q-tip. I know you're not supposed to clean with a q-tip but I was not digging deep.
I suppose I need to go to the ENT.
Should I ask for water irrigation, microsuction or manual extraction with a pick?
I'm a little nervous....how long does the process take and does it hurt?

I’ve been to the ENT three times for this and in my experience you’re not supposed to tell them - you leave it to them to make the recommendation on the best method. They’re the professionals so why would you tell them what to do?

So the first time they needed to do a water irrigation because the wax was really impacted. The other two times they did not need to use water, they were able to just guide the wax out with manual extraction.

Weirdly this was a thing that happened to me in my late 30s early 40s. But I haven’t been to the ENT in five years and it seems OK on its own now.

This is so not a big deal. It is really quick.

[Anonymous]

Why do people abuse urgent care for earwax removal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people abuse urgent care for earwax removal?

Laziness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people abuse urgent care for earwax removal?

It's not an abuse. If you can't hear or are in a lot of discomfort, you need help immediately. ENT appointments can take weeks if you aren't already a patient, and if your only ear issue has ever been wax buildup, it's likely you don't already have an ENT. You want people to sit around waiting for weeks rather than go to an urgent care where they have special equipment for water irrigation of ears? Why?

Urgent care is basically for medical issues for which it would be best to just go to a doctor's office, but you can't get an appointment. Anything more serious, you should go to the ER (I have twice gone to urgent care for things and been referred to the ER, because they really do not want serious medical issues at urgent care -- they can't take scans, have limited testing ability, and most people who work there are just medical assistants, not even RNs).

Urgent cares also need patients whose problems can be resolved fairly quickly, because they don't have the staff or facility for complex issues or people who need to occupy beds for longer periods of time (ERs are also overloaded in this way but they at least have the option of admitting patients). So the sweet spot for urgent care is quick diagnoses so you can write a scrip, apply a wound dressing, or refer to a specialist pretty quickly. Ear irrigation falls pretty nearly in that category -- it's takes a few minutes, you can refer to an ENT if the issue is more serious, and you can provide some guidance for preventing the issue in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people abuse urgent care for earwax removal?

“Abuse”? There are urgent cares on every block. They want business. This isn’t the ER.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people abuse urgent care for earwax removal?

It's not an abuse. If you can't hear or are in a lot of discomfort, you need help immediately. ENT appointments can take weeks if you aren't already a patient, and if your only ear issue has ever been wax buildup, it's likely you don't already have an ENT. You want people to sit around waiting for weeks rather than go to an urgent care where they have special equipment for water irrigation of ears? Why?

Urgent care is basically for medical issues for which it would be best to just go to a doctor's office, but you can't get an appointment. Anything more serious, you should go to the ER (I have twice gone to urgent care for things and been referred to the ER, because they really do not want serious medical issues at urgent care -- they can't take scans, have limited testing ability, and most people who work there are just medical assistants, not even RNs).

Urgent cares also need patients whose problems can be resolved fairly quickly, because they don't have the staff or facility for complex issues or people who need to occupy beds for longer periods of time (ERs are also overloaded in this way but they at least have the option of admitting patients). So the sweet spot for urgent care is quick diagnoses so you can write a scrip, apply a wound dressing, or refer to a specialist pretty quickly. Ear irrigation falls pretty nearly in that category -- it's takes a few minutes, you can refer to an ENT if the issue is more serious, and you can provide some guidance for preventing the issue in the future.

You are nice to write a helpful response to a really stupid question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people abuse urgent care for earwax removal?

It's not an abuse. If you can't hear or are in a lot of discomfort, you need help immediately. ENT appointments can take weeks if you aren't already a patient, and if your only ear issue has ever been wax buildup, it's likely you don't already have an ENT. You want people to sit around waiting for weeks rather than go to an urgent care where they have special equipment for water irrigation of ears? Why?

Urgent care is basically for medical issues for which it would be best to just go to a doctor's office, but you can't get an appointment. Anything more serious, you should go to the ER (I have twice gone to urgent care for things and been referred to the ER, because they really do not want serious medical issues at urgent care -- they can't take scans, have limited testing ability, and most people who work there are just medical assistants, not even RNs).

Urgent cares also need patients whose problems can be resolved fairly quickly, because they don't have the staff or facility for complex issues or people who need to occupy beds for longer periods of time (ERs are also overloaded in this way but they at least have the option of admitting patients). So the sweet spot for urgent care is quick diagnoses so you can write a scrip, apply a wound dressing, or refer to a specialist pretty quickly. Ear irrigation falls pretty nearly in that category -- it's takes a few minutes, you can refer to an ENT if the issue is more serious, and you can provide some guidance for preventing the issue in the future.

You missed the point entirely. You don't need to go to a doctor for this. You can easily take care of it yourself. It would be like going to the doctor to have them cut your nails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people abuse urgent care for earwax removal?

“Abuse”? There are urgent cares on every block. They want business. This isn’t the ER.

Of course they want the business, but it is wasting $200.

[Anonymous]

We do hydrogen peroxide at home which is basically what debrox is made of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people abuse urgent care for earwax removal?

“Abuse”? There are urgent cares on every block. They want business. This isn’t the ER.

Of course they want the business, but it is wasting $200.

$200? Maybe on your insurance. Not on mine.