How to Clean Your Ears | Ear Problems

One of the most common conditions of the earis the buildup of earwax, or cerumen, as it is medically called.

Earwaxis the normal product of normal, healthy ears, and everyone should make someearwax.

It serves a protective function, and it somewhat lubricates the skinof the ear canal.

Earwax is made by sweat glands that have beenmodified in your ear to produce wax.

Earwax can be soft, it can behard, it can be yellow, it can be dark.

It really doesn't matter.

When earwaxbuilds up, your ear feels blocked or stuffed, and you feel as thoughyou have a hearing loss.

There are over the counter remedies, suchas drops, and little irrigators which you can use to irrigate your ear.

Youmust be careful, however, that you don't do this too vigorously.

If you haveany discomfort or any dizziness, you should stop immediately andseek medical attention.

If you see your internist, it's likely that someonein your internist's office will be able to irrigate your ear with solutionor use a fine instrument to clean your ear.

On occasion earwax is so firmly impacted inthe ear that you will have to seek the consultation of a specialist, anear, nose, and throat physician.

An ear, nose, and throat physician will havespecial tools and special instruments that will allow them to cleanyour ear effectively and painlessly.

One of the more common methods of cleaningthe ear is with a Q-tip, and this is not advised.

The old mother's taleis never put anything in your ear smaller than your elbow, and it's probablytrue.

Wax generally comes out of the ear spontaneously.

The skin ofyour ear grows out of your ear in a radial fashion, and it tends to carry waxto the outside.

So if you feel driven to use a Q-tip, just use it in thevery outside in a circular fashion but don't push it in because moreoften than not you will simply push the wax further in your ear impactingit rather than taking it out.

In addition, if you put a Q-tip too deeplyin your ear, you can injure your eardrum.

You can cause permanent hearing lossYou can cause a hole in your eardrum.

Be careful with Q-tips.

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