Ear wax removal- upfront disclosure- No pics

[LargeSquareRock]

I have suffered from overproduction of earwax all my life. My earwax is soft and gooey, not hard. I’ve always believed I overproduce earwax and have funny shaped ear canals (cannot use ear buds) so the soft gooey wax cannot get out easily.

At least twice a year I have to do the earwax dance with my GP. They have a suction machine but refused to see you unless you have used softeners for at least a week. Softeners are terrible for my ears. They make the already soft gooey wax even softer and more gluggy. It fills my ears with extra fluid and blocks my hearing completely so I walk around for a week feeling off balance and discombobulated. Once it is removed at the GP, I immediately feel better except I always receive a lecture on how I didn’t really need the procedure because my earwax was so soft, not hard. They refused to believe that soft earwax can block ears.

Today I went to one of those earwax removal clinics. What a revelation. The best $150 I have ever spent. The nurse removed the wax and confirmed my belief that my ear canals are funny – apparently the term is tortuous ear canal. The nurse showed me the wax (sorry for no pic- it was so so great) and said mine was particularly gooey and sticky and that I should never use wax softeners because it would make everything worse. Not sure what the point of this post is but I walked out feeling absolutely amazing. I go back in six months to see how much wax has been produced over that time. If it’s not too bad, I will just have an annual maintenance appointment. No more GP!

Or you could go to GP without using the drops and say ‘yes it’s definitely soft’. You don’t need to lie.

GPs generally won't do it nowadays anyway, they expect you to go and pay for it to be done.

Yes, same at mine. Hers does though obviously.

I sympathise and if you can afford it, definitely pay to have it done. I'm surprised your gp surgery still does syringing though. I've got narrow ear canals as well, but not especially soft wax. I use olive oil regularly and haven't had ears syringed for about ten years now.

No syringing- they have the same suction machine too. Just it takes 1-2 weeks for an appointment and then I get the lecture about not having hard enough wax to justify. The ear clinic was a next day appointment, no faffing. GPs in Australia apparently avoid the syringing too so if they aren’t a big surgery with a machine and you don’t have any spare cash to pay for it at an ear clinc you are stuffed.

sorry a silly question. Who’s often and how much olive oil please? What do you do? Put it in and lie down on your side? Which side? Do you then tip it out?

@70s are you for real? You can't work out which side to lie down on if you want to put olive oil in your ear?

Why is everyone so hostile.

Use a dropper to put about teaspoonful in ear, plug with cotton wool and lie on opposite side for a few minutes. Do this every day for a 5-7 days for impacted wax then maybe once a week for maintenance. ENT doctor advised me to do this.

Many thanks for your helpful reply. I’m on the waiting list for ent so wanted to get things right. Thank you again

What a nasty comment. Yes I’m very aware but have severe hearing loss and impacted wax, and have tried literally everything as I wait for more medical support. I’d thank you for keeping your thoughts and sarcasm to yourself in future. Your snide comment benefits no one and makes you a troll

I struggle with this too. Olive oil gives me an ear infection. And I get these every month or so without olive oil.