WAX IN EARS

Earwax serves a necessary purpose, picking up bacteria, dust, dead skin cells and other foreign substances which may enter the ear. The wax works its way out, drying, crumbling and dropping out in small flakes that tend to go unnoticed. In this ingenious way, the ear is self-cleaning. However, sometimes earwax accumulates and hardens causing deafness and discomfort.

 

Ear candles have become popular of late and are long, hollow tubes believed to help with ear infection and ear problems such as removing earwax.  Be sure to visit with a trained practitioner in this area.

 

Never try to clean your ears or remove wax with a cotton bud, or worse still something like a bobby pin. The wax you remove in this way probably would have fallen out anyway, or else you will have pushed any wax further in and risked damaging the canal or eardrum.

 

 

If you have a stubborn buildup of earwax you can soften it using some warm olive oil or glycerol for 4 to 5 days. Alternatively, you can obtain "Waxsol" or "Cerumol" drops from the pharmacy. These can be instilled on two consecutive nights. We would not recommend that you use these drops any longer than this, as they can be very irritating to the ears, causing a dermatitis. Following the use of any drops, if the wax has not cleared spontaneously, see your doctor who will gently syringe the ears with warm water.

 

Excessive wax buildup in the ears can be caused by food allergy and intolerance and also omega 3 fat deficiency.  The most common food culprits are dairy products, gluten and soy.  Omega 3 fats are found in oily fish or fish oil supplements.