Wax blocking middle ear? Glue ear or not?

[atay27]

Hello

My son has had his ears looked at at the doctors and they couldn’t see his middle ear or ear drum for too much wax…

would that likely indicate glue ear? Or could the wax just be closer to the outer ear?

any advice really appreciated!
thanks

I don’t know the answer to your question but my daughter had glue ear and the dr couldn’t see anything when she looked (but referred us for an ear test as I was worried).

My daughter has glue ear but she doesn't have any wax. We are waiting to be seen by ENT have been waiting almost a year!

Ahh that’s interesting! Did your daughter get grommets?

That’s awful! How was it diagnosed as I thought glue ear was wax in the middle ear? Or did you mean no additional wax? I hope you are seen soon x

We went down the hearing aids route which worked well for her. She is now 11 and hearing is much better now.

Glue ear is a build up of fluid behind your ear drum. Nothing to do with wax

The canal between the eardrum and the outside is all the outer ear which is where wax can build up. The middle ear which can get congested (glue ear) is the bit behind the eardrum so when they're looking in they're checking to see if the eardrum is bulging or inflamed to diagnose that. Hopefully your son 'just' has outer ear canal wax blockage which is pretty simple to remove and doesn't require any ENT intervention :-)

Thanks so much everyone!

@atay27 how are uou and how long did it last for please x

Hey! So we got olive oil drops to clear the wax. He had a hearing test and was absolutely fine but the lady did say that he might get a bit of glue ear in the winter and to keep an eye on it. But he can clear it. So just waiting for the winter now to see if there’s a change! X