Unblocking Those Waxes

You can probably just count the number of people who are not using Q-tips to clean their ears.  As a matter of fact, I am one of them.  Cleaning my ears and my kids ears is one of the things we do as soon as we finish bathing.  What is it about Q-tips that is so bad? I mean, after all, you don't want to walk around with your earwax hanging out.

Earwax or cerumen is produced by the glands in the ear canal.  Just like mucus, it acts like a protective layer, trapping those dusts and other particles that gets in your ear that would potentially hurt your eardrums. These earwax will dry up and eventually fall out of your ear.   But sometimes it will build up, then block or impact your hearing.  One of the most common cause of blockage or impaction? Q-TIPS! or Cotton Buds.

Q-Tips pushes the rest of the earwaxes deeper inside the canal so that it would result to a build-up and therefore affecting your sense of hearing.  Some other symptoms are dizziness, ear pain, ringing in the ear, itchiness and plugged or fullness sensation.

My good friend and an ear doctor clearing out the ear blockage.

Going to the doctor is perhaps the easiest way to remove it.  After a week of applying eardrops to soften the wax, my friend used a rubber type syringe to flush it out.  This procedure only took us less than 10 minutes.

Did this change the way I feel about Q-Tips? Most definitely.  I'd probably still clean my ears but I'd be more careful.  I'd make sure that the Qtips will only be positioned at the opening of the ear canal and not go deeper.  After our session with the ENT, I don't think I want that much build-up on my ears nor on my kids ears.

How about you? How do you clean your ears?