Freshman year of boarding school I was sitting in class and felt something in my ear and pulled out a decently large ball of earwax. Because basically every bodily function is horrifying and embarrassing when you are 15, I was absolutely mortified and became really worried about excessive earwax. My roommate had wax melting ear drops, so I started using those regularly. After a few months I woke up in the middle of the night with severe pain in one ear. I went to the infirmary and the nurse took one look in my ear and gasped. I was even more embarrassed, thinking my ear was packed with wax. Turns out she was gasping because she had never seen an ear canal completely stripped of any wax and so rawly exposed to the elements.
I've never again used ear drops, but nearly 30 years later I am still a regular q-tipper. Instagram advertising was pushing a ear cleaning camera on me for a while, I will admit to being tempted...
OMG. Thank you for sharing. There is always something to be more terrified about it turns out, haha!! I just got an ad for the little camera the other day and I don't know how I feel about it. I feel like it's probably none of my business what the inside of my ear looks like unless it's causing me pain. We can't win!! Hahah. There really needs to be a better option for cleaning ears at home...WE NEED THE INDUSTRY'S BEST ON THIS!
DUUUUUDE WHAT I’m so horrified??? I am an ear swab user lmao I’m not sure I’ll stop (I don’t feel clean unless my ears are fully swabbed and dried after a shower lol) but I’ll be more careful for sure hahaha
Girl. Okay about two years ago I was in Minnesota visiting family and went to scratch in my ear causing some ear wax to get lodged in there. I couldn't hear it was clogged! I used a Q tip to try and get it out which made it worse. I tried drops, and some at home solution. Nothing worked. If this has ever happened to you it's like the worst feeling being only able to hear in one ear. When I got back to LA I had an appoitnemnt with an ear doctor. I have really basic health care so I was attended to by med students that had never handled IMPACTED EAR WAX. They were like, "So the doctor told us what to do and we are gonna give it a try." Not reassuring but whatever here we go. One nurse held my head and ear in position. The other nurse revealed a syringe with a long blunt tip (picture a hummingbird beak) filled with water. They then injected this into my ear canal and PLUNGED cold water into my ear canal. This was extremely uncomfortable and didn't work. The nurse team tried again. Didn't work and I wanted to cry. They called in the doctor. The doctor was so dissapointed. Doctor was like, "Girls stand aside". Grabs the syrigne. "Girls hold the bowl under his ear this stuff comes out fast so be ready." I am like WHAT IS HAPPENING WHAT IS INSIDE ME?!!!!! Then the doctor plunges the syringe but this time at like MACH 10 FORCE into my ear and this time I feel whatever is inside my ear canal compeltely dislodge. I CAN HEAR AGAIN. But it was like sooo sensitive. I had super hearing abilites out of that one ear.
Girl, I looked at the doctor and nurses and they looked into the dish and had the most disguisted faces. In the dish was a ball of compacted wax the size of a big ole raisin and about the same color NASTY NASTY LITTLE THING! The doctor was like, "You should name it! I've never seen one this big."
I use q tips. I am careful with them but I've found you gotta be gentle and I think if you use them after you shower it's more like you're soaking up the wet wax versus if you use them in dry ear canals I believe the fibers break off and just make things worse. And I do know we need some wax in there to be healthy. I just can't stand when I am talking to someone and I see wax in their ear canal so I just can't live that way. I would rather risk wax compaction than have wax falling out of my ear in public.
Freshman year of boarding school I was sitting in class and felt something in my ear and pulled out a decently large ball of earwax. Because basically every bodily function is horrifying and embarrassing when you are 15, I was absolutely mortified and became really worried about excessive earwax. My roommate had wax melting ear drops, so I started using those regularly. After a few months I woke up in the middle of the night with severe pain in one ear. I went to the infirmary and the nurse took one look in my ear and gasped. I was even more embarrassed, thinking my ear was packed with wax. Turns out she was gasping because she had never seen an ear canal completely stripped of any wax and so rawly exposed to the elements.
I've never again used ear drops, but nearly 30 years later I am still a regular q-tipper. Instagram advertising was pushing a ear cleaning camera on me for a while, I will admit to being tempted...
OMG. Thank you for sharing. There is always something to be more terrified about it turns out, haha!! I just got an ad for the little camera the other day and I don't know how I feel about it. I feel like it's probably none of my business what the inside of my ear looks like unless it's causing me pain. We can't win!! Hahah. There really needs to be a better option for cleaning ears at home...WE NEED THE INDUSTRY'S BEST ON THIS!
DUUUUUDE WHAT I’m so horrified??? I am an ear swab user lmao I’m not sure I’ll stop (I don’t feel clean unless my ears are fully swabbed and dried after a shower lol) but I’ll be more careful for sure hahaha
Yes just be careful!! Don't put it in too far!!
Girl. Okay about two years ago I was in Minnesota visiting family and went to scratch in my ear causing some ear wax to get lodged in there. I couldn't hear it was clogged! I used a Q tip to try and get it out which made it worse. I tried drops, and some at home solution. Nothing worked. If this has ever happened to you it's like the worst feeling being only able to hear in one ear. When I got back to LA I had an appoitnemnt with an ear doctor. I have really basic health care so I was attended to by med students that had never handled IMPACTED EAR WAX. They were like, "So the doctor told us what to do and we are gonna give it a try." Not reassuring but whatever here we go. One nurse held my head and ear in position. The other nurse revealed a syringe with a long blunt tip (picture a hummingbird beak) filled with water. They then injected this into my ear canal and PLUNGED cold water into my ear canal. This was extremely uncomfortable and didn't work. The nurse team tried again. Didn't work and I wanted to cry. They called in the doctor. The doctor was so dissapointed. Doctor was like, "Girls stand aside". Grabs the syrigne. "Girls hold the bowl under his ear this stuff comes out fast so be ready." I am like WHAT IS HAPPENING WHAT IS INSIDE ME?!!!!! Then the doctor plunges the syringe but this time at like MACH 10 FORCE into my ear and this time I feel whatever is inside my ear canal compeltely dislodge. I CAN HEAR AGAIN. But it was like sooo sensitive. I had super hearing abilites out of that one ear.
Girl, I looked at the doctor and nurses and they looked into the dish and had the most disguisted faces. In the dish was a ball of compacted wax the size of a big ole raisin and about the same color NASTY NASTY LITTLE THING! The doctor was like, "You should name it! I've never seen one this big."
I use q tips. I am careful with them but I've found you gotta be gentle and I think if you use them after you shower it's more like you're soaking up the wet wax versus if you use them in dry ear canals I believe the fibers break off and just make things worse. And I do know we need some wax in there to be healthy. I just can't stand when I am talking to someone and I see wax in their ear canal so I just can't live that way. I would rather risk wax compaction than have wax falling out of my ear in public.