Previously, I required a doctor to remove my blocked ear canals from wax. I would need this approximately once a year. It’s a genetic thing and my mother also needs this to be done, but would use a sketchy candling approach which worked partly.
A big revelation came to me when I was taking a flight to the Czech Republic. My colleague asked for ear plugs. I had not used earplugs previously but had relied on sleeping pills to get to sleep. I found that the ear plugs not only helped my sleep but actually prevented my years from developing deposits of wax. In fact, apart from the occasional visit to the barber (where they take the wax out with that kind of spoon) I have no problems.
I used to clean, swab and dig at my waxy ears, constantly being rewarded with wax and goo. My doctor looked and said, “Looks good to me.” I forgot about it. Just my perception.
I find the question rather weird, because I don’t think your ears should really smell or that it would be much of a problem if they do (of all the things that have ever irritated me about people, smelly ears has never been one).
If it’s just about drying your ear canals after showering etc., you could use a mixture of vinegar and isopropanol (you’d have to Google for the ratio, but I think it’s 1:3 v/v IIRC). I think some swimmers do that, and I used to do it occasionally after showering after I got a quite severe ear infection that progressed to the mastoid bone a few years back in Thailand (maybe something to do with heat/humidity, but it hasn’t reoccurred).
I’ve also used olive oil before, but that’s kind of annoying because I don’t want oil dripping out of my ears all day.
Regular clinics so exactly this. They use a little suction cleaner to suck out all the wax and they spray medicine in your ears to kill any bad bacteria.
But if you really want to go to some private place that does it at (rough guess here) 20 times the price I’m sure you’ll find one somewhere.
I Googled it. I found one result saying to never do that. I am not saying it is not safe necessarily. I am saying, if I were going to do it, I would research it more.
Not sure what you read, unless the “never” was referring specifically to not doing it with a perforated eardrum, but there are loads of results suggesting this as a home remedy.
The residual isopropanol evaporates pretty quickly at body temperature (it would be drying with excessive use, but once in a while is fine), and the purpose of the acetic acid is to slightly acidify the ear canal (in line with its natural pH and inhibiting bacterial growth).
I put one through my ear drum when I was a kid. I stay away from them. All they do, as most people use them wrongly, is jam wax and cockroach droppings down into your ear canal.
Again, I am not saying I necessarily believe there would be any big risk if you mixed the right proportions. I just think it requires some study before I would ever consider doing that.
This is referring specifically to a perforated eardrum, and a lot of common OTC antibiotics and eardrops containing them are ototoxic in this case too - one probably shouldn’t be putting many things in their ear if they have a perforated eardrum.
Man I’ve got all of them except 5 and 8. Had tinnitus since I was a kid and had Rubella. And I’m half deaf in one ear from, well let’s call it exposure to industrial noise.
As for the vinegar and alcohol method I’ve done that before. It’s like a subdued version of the vinegar and baking soda science experiment in elementary school (add food coloring and paper mache to make a volcanic eruption). I’ve had ear wicks too. Used to always get those in winter from ear infections from swimming. Those ear wicks would make an horrendous pop when the last bit came out.
It shouldn’t bubble at all because there’s (hopefully) nothing basic in your ear for the acetic acid to react with to generate a gas. Maybe you’re thinking of hydrogen peroxide?
To me, vinegar and isopropanol just felt a bit…burny, IIRC. It wasn’t too unpleasant, though.
Probably because I had swimmers ear and a big ball of wax stuck in there. The ball of wax turned white and the doctor sucked it out with his little ear vacuum cleaner. Was about the size of a pea.
