What’s this in my child’s ear?!

[Mummyto3derby]

Hi, so I’m freaking out! I was doing regular bath time and cleaning my son’s ears out and noticed this circle in his ear that looked like it was reflecting in the light!
not sure what to do!

I'm glad it's just natural earwax, but does anyone else find this thread / photo makes them desperate to try to tweeze that little waxy blob out of there? It's like a compulsion.
Obviously you never should put anything smaller than your elbow in your (or anyone else's) ear, but I really really want to!

I think it should have been removed by ENT. It could get bigger and block his ear, plus cause damage to the delicate bones within his ear, and infection. I would ask the GP for ear drops to soften it if they won't remove it.

Sorry my bad🤣i'm guessing you don't know how to unfollow a thread either.
I've gone to post a snarky comment like this myself but held back.

Yes, me too! Just pluck the thing out.

A&E for known earwax?

GPs exist.

Yeah but the OP was already there. (In A & E.)

Not true! I can click on see all posts from OP on my iPhone!

This! ^

Cancel the cheque tweezers!

I think this thread being on 'Trending' isn't helping the situation! 😬

If there is that much ear wax in a child's ear it should be removed. The balance mechanism for the whole body is in the middle ear. With that much ear wax it could cause vertigo. In the time before the ear wax is removed,they could fall and hurt themselves. It could also render the child some degree of hearing loss.

I wonder if anyone in A&E are taught practical anything nowadays.

A year or two back my GP looked in my ear because it was painful. He said it was clogged with wax, but that they do not treat that at the surgery treatment room, and wrote down the hospital department where he said they have specialised equipment these days to do a better job.

So, no. Going to the GP isn't always the best thing to do. And I think the mother was absolutely right to go to A&E instead of the surgery, and I think they did the wrong thing by sending them out without treatment.

Oh OP did the right thing by going when she had no idea what it was, and if they could have dealt with it easily there, it seems silly that they didn't. I suspect it's another upshot of the beaurocracy of the NHS - a few minutes to treat some earwax may have meant that another patient breached the four-hour-mark.

I don't agree that going back is the way forward, unless there are emergent and significant symptoms such as vertigo. The GP probably can't treat, but can refer on.

@ThesebeautifulthingsthatIvegot that was exactly his point.... he sees lots of children (and adults) who have been sent to ENT for things that are deep in their noses or ears precisely because the object has been pushed in deeper by someone trying to get it out with tweezers!

There is a small simple device designed specifically for the job of getting objects out of ears and noses...... so that's what he was saying that staff in places like A&E or minor injuries should be using.

@BeSharpBee that's also what he said, suction is always better than poking something in to try and grab the object!

If it's reachable grab it with tweezers (and post a picture of it here please, I love ear wax removal😂)
Or get the olive oil drops, but make sure you warm it first.

Well I honestly have never seen ear wax that looks like that before! It must have been catching the light in the picture as that did not look like wax to me. Glad it was only that though.

Isn’t it time @MNHQ made the “see all” font bigger and bolder and change it to “see updates”?

The cynic in me says they get more posts by not making this easy fix!!

DO NOT DO THAT

When a kid shoves something up their nose or in there ear 1st call of protocol is pluck it out with a tweezers for God sake, so much hysteria on this thread

So, is it still there??

Don't leave us in suspense, please.

Careful, I got deleted for being misogynistic for saying that earlier on in the thread 😆

No hoovering of the ear!