Cotton bud tip stuck in ear, okay to wait until tomorrow?

[Coffeecocoabeans]

I know, I know you’re not supposed to put anything in your ears but I’m pretty sure I have eczema inside my ears. They are always so itchy and get worse when I have hayfever.

I itched it with a cotton bud and the bud fell off and is stuck in my ear. I can’t reach it or pull it out.
I don’t really want to go to a&e now because my toddler is in bed and I’ll have to wake them as I’m the only parent.

Will I be ok to sleep with it, I’m a bit worried because I think it may have slipped further in as my ears starting to feel uncomfortable. oh god I’m feeling a bit panicky. I would go to a&e first thing or contact gp based on advice- I just don’t want to go now as don’t want to disturb lo’s sleep.

Will I be okay until tomorrow and who should I contact?

If it is just the cotton part and no stem, it is not remotely an emergency. Your eardrum will protect your ear.

drop a bit of olive oil into your ear and put a towel on your pillow. There is a good chance it will work its way out in its own overnight or in the shower in the next few days.

I've twice had the end of a hearing aid stuck in my ear and not known, it was fine, it can't go anywhere. I went to minor injuries and they got it out in ten seconds with thin tweezers. I get the same thing, the itching drives me crazy, and sometimes using a cotton wool bud makes it worse. You'll be fine overnight, promise you.

Yes, absolutely fine. It happened to me on a weekend and the hospital made me an appointment for ENT on the Monday.

It’ll be fine. I had a similar situation. Ended up spending 5 hours at the A&E but they were unable to remove the cotton bud. My hospital does not have an otolaryngologist so I had a referral to another hospital in a week’s time. The procedure itself took 2 min - with a tiny hoover-type device which just sucked out the cotton bud. I was quite concerned about having the cotton wool in my ear for several days, especially as I had a business trip in the meantime and was concerned about my ears popping during the flight and somehow being damaged by the foreign body inside. It was not an issue in my case.

I once syringed out a cotton bud tip that was 11 years old. The patient told me that was the last time she'd used cotton wool buds in her ears.
You'll be fine until tomorrow. X

Aww thank you so much for your fast responses. I’ve become such an anxious person since I’ve had a child!
I will breathe, relax and wait until tomorrow.

It’s really reassuring to hear that others have experienced it too, thanks for sharing.
Shall I contact gp or walk in treatment centre?

Walk in. Most GPs don't have the equipment to get a cotton bud out unless it's right at the surface (in which case you could get it out yourself).

I am by no means suggesting you do this as it could make it worse but I get eczema in my ears and a piece of the cotton wool from
a bud once came off in my ear. I got another cotton bud and slathered some of my eczema cream on it and kind of put it in my ear touching one side and managed to get the lost bit of cotton to stick to it and pull it out

I get terribly itchy ears with hay fever too. Drives me mad.

Oh no after 5 hours of waiting! I would have definitely panicked if they weren’t able to remove it and I would have worried about the popping on the flight too. So glad they were able to take it out at the other hospital!

Thank you, I have a non urgent one near me so will go there. Fingers crossed I won’t have a five hour wait like quid face but not getting my hopes up 😅

sorry about your plight op, but i also get itchy ears with hayfever. I thought it was just me! Thanks to those who shared about their ear issues, I now feel less alone 😊

Put olive oil in your ear. For both the dryness and the cotton bud.

There is a guy on Instagram ( Christian Hull) who recently managed to do exactly the same as you 😮. He was trying several different tools to try to remove it, but nothing worked (I held my breath a few times watching him attempt to remove it!).

It was either the following day, or two days later, that he phoned a medical service (I’m assuming it’s similar to our 111 service here in the UK), and he was given an appt at his local A&E. They removed it within seconds.

How have you tried to remove it? I've had this a few times and just used tweezers on myself to get it out, but mine have generally been near the entrance. If its deep in the ear canal then I wouldn't go in too deep though. You could ring your GP to see if the practice nurse/nurse practitioner could remove it. Another option might be to call somewhere like specsavers or audiology places which do hearing aids. I don't know about ear problems, but our local specsavers store have specific clinics that see eye problems, so they 'might' do the same for ear issues.

Are you on any treatment for the hayfever? A cortisone nasal spray has been a lift changer for me. Fluticasone is what I use. Ideally it should be started a week or so before the allergy season but start now and will take a while to kick in, but its been great for me. www.boots.com/boots-allergy-relief-50-microgram-nasal-spray-10235461?srsltid=AfmBOop4Y0HWJmRRK0RKhTaksGsPOmCNqMP964po3iDNOoHBoGBM06b4

Walk in for the cotton bud but GP for some cream for your itchy ears. My husband has it on prescription and says it really helps.

I thought I had this happen once, but I went to the GP but she said nothing was in my ear. So either it was a stick with nothing on it, or it’s still stuck in my ear 🙈. Did you look at the cotton bud before you put it in there? I didn’t so didn’t occur to me that it might’ve just been a bare stick

This happened to me! I got it out by putting water into my ear. It only needed a bit of water, enough for the fluffy bit of cotton to soak up and fall out when I tilted my head to the side.

I get itchy ears with hay fever too. I used to stick a cotton bud in to relieve the itch and one of the ends must have come off without me noticing. For a few days I had crackling in that ear and I thought it was water from the shower. It was driving me mad so I held the lobe and waggled it and a pink thing shot out. I screamed as (stupidly) I immediately thought it was a bit of brain! When I dared look properly I realised what it was. It wasn't even pink, that was just the light making it look slightly pink. It put me off using buds in my ears!

It’s not an emergency is it?!!! 🙄🙄🙄 jeez just make an appointment with an ear cleaning company tomorrow to get it removed and don’t waste A&e’s time! It’s not an emergency and can be dealt with by ear people as this is what they do all the time

It's not an emergency.

Such a kind and understanding thread 😊
OP, I’d have been clueless too so would have found this thread really reassuring! Hope it comes out easily enough.