Contrary to the common belief, ear wax is quite helpful. It trap the dirt, bacteria and fungi in your ear canal and keeps the outer ear clean and healthy. Ear wax is also shown to have some amount of antibacterial and antifungal property. Well then, we all get to notice it only when it causes problems, otherwise it silently does good work all your life.

When your ear wax traps too much dirt or dries up, it may get stuck in the canal. Usually we do not need to clear wax manually. Our jaw movement while we talk or chew is mechanized in such a way that wax moves outwards towards the ear canal opening and flakes off. Ahem, another marvel of nature’s engineering.

How then we must clean wax if it gets stuck? I wish I could give you the most popular method and say ear bud is the way to go, but unfortunately it is the worst thing you could do. I often times cannot explain enough to my patients the foolishness of shoving in a thick blunt stick into the ear to pull out something. It violates the basic push and pull law of physics, doesn’t it? Ear buds can only push the wax inside, deeper in the canal, causing more harm and problems often times needing a visit to me. Best thing then is to visit an ear doctor, if possible after applying oil (preferably olive oil) for a couple of days.

If however you are DIY types, and must do it yourself, then you may try putting few drops of water or saline into the ear and flushing it out by tilting the head down. Hydrogen peroxide ear drops maybe used in similar fashion. Small ear hooks (looks like blunt rings) maybe used under vision to pull out small bits close to the opening of the canal.

However do remember, many other causes of blocked ear may seem like wax to you, when it is not. Often times the over-enthusiastic patient causes more damage to the ear in trying to clean phantom wax, than to just visit an ear specialist and get the disease treated. Anyways, that’s all for now folks. Stay healthy and be happy.