Total Hearing Solutions

Never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ears. Only clean your belly button with cotton swabs as these can injure your ears. Most of the time, our ear canals are self-cleaning.

When we see a patient with wax blocking his eardrum, it’s often because he’s been pushing his earwax deeper inside his ear canal with a cotton tip or other tool.

What You Can Do About Earwax

So you have too much earwax. If you do not have a hole in your eardrum, try softening it with over-the-counter products such as Debrox © or Murine © Ear Drops every two or three days.

But if you have a hole in your eardrum, don’t put any liquid in your ears or you could develop an infection. If you aren’t sure, ask one of our board certified otolaryngologists.

Earwax Protects You From Dust, Sand and Infection

Earwax is made by glands in the outer part of your ear canal and actually helps keep your ears healthy. Its purpose is to keep dust and sand from reaching the eardrum.

Earwax also helps protect ears from infection.

Too Much Earwax Can Cause Hearing Aid Problems

But some people produce too much earwax as they’re not able to self clean very well.

Hearing aid users want to pay special attention to this. A major cause of hearing aids not working correctly is earwax plugging the hearing aid.

Earwax can also build up in the ear canal and act like an earplug, keeping sounds out. If you wear hearing aids, you may also hear a squealing sound from them.

Prevent Earwax Problems

To prevent this, clean your hearing aids everyday. Use a wax loop and cloth or tissue to clean the receiver end that sits inside your ear canal.

Replace your wax guards once a month or more often if you get a lot of earwax. And again, never try to remove earwax yourself with a cotton tip, car key, bobby pin, toothpick or high-pressure water spray.

If over-the-counter products don’t work, one of our board certified doctors may need to wash your earwax out, vacuum it or remove it with special instruments. He may also prescribe ear drops to soften the wax.

Remember to bring your hearing aids with you when you visit our office at least every six months for a clean and check appointment.

Let us know if you have questions or would like to make an appointment with a certified audiologist at Total Hearing Solutions. Call us at (317) 705-2700.