What kind of doctor do I go to for an ear cleaning? Any in Taipei that anyone can recommend? What should I expect to pay with NHI?
Out of curiosity, what country are you from that has doctors providing a ear cleaning service.
u need: soap, water, and a stick with cotton ends.
Check this out. 
Go to the ENT dept of a large hospital (or just go to an ENT clinic) and a nurse will give your lugholes a good syringing.
Soap and water just won’t cut it if your ears are anything like mine.
I need an annual ear clean cuz I get very waxy.
I saw something really freaky on TV a year or so ago about ear cleaning in Taiwan. Apparently there are Hakka practitioners who will probe in your ears and pull out various and assorted goo and some species of bug. Sounds like ye olde “psychic surgeon” shtick to me. Anyone else heard about this and/or had it done?
Other than that it’s fairly popular in some countries to use some kind of candlewax. Bizarre, fighting wax with wax. Wonder if any of those over-the-counter ear wax removal things are available in taiwan pharmacies? The old standard is good old hydrogen peroxide - few drops in each ear for a minute or so, dissolves the wax (but might make you feel like you have swimmer’s ear).
slurpy
You should be able to get a cleaning kit at a pharmacy. You don’t use soap and water, Jack; these kits come with some sort of peroxide solution. The peroxide dissolves earwax, whereas water would just bead up on it. You use the squeeze bulb to squirt some into the deep part of the ear, lean to one side for about ten minutes to let it soak in and dissolve the wax, and then point that ear down so it all dribbles out. Then use the squeeze bulb to squirt water in to rinse. Repeat on other side.
It’s not hydrogen peroxide, though. Not sure how well (or if) that would work.
BTW, if your ears are severely clogged, you may have to do this repeatedly, or even go in to a doctor’s office to get it done professionally. My roommate had so much hardened wax jammed in his ear that the doctor had to use tweezers to rip it out – not something you want to try at home by yourself. Remember, if you puncture your eardrum, you’re f***ed.
I’ve asked four different ENT doctors about cleaning ears. Three of these doctors were American, one was Taiwanese. They all said that one should under no circumstances clean his or her ears. They said that we should absolutely never do it. All of them gave the same explanation. Ultimately, cleaning your ear canal actually makes it more vulnerable to infection or damage. Your ear wax is mildly acidic; this prevents the growth of bacteria in the ear. If you remove it, you have removed your ear’s natural defense against infection. Ear wax is held in place in the ear canal by very short, fine hairs. These hairs insure that there is an even coat of wax even at the top of your ear canal. If you clean out your ear, these hairs will no longer be kept still by the wax and they will vibrate when any air or sound passes them. This causes your ear canal to itch, which causes most people to want to clean their ear again. This can cause damage to the skin and tissue in the ear canal; it’s sensitive and isn’t supposed to be left bare or unprotected by ear wax.
I was surprised the first time a doctor told me this. I asked him if it was ever ok to clean our ear canals and he said that in 99% of people, they should never need to clean them in their whole lives. He said that you should just clean away whatever starts to come out of the opening of the ear. He said that people who complain that their ears are constantly getting clogged up have actually caused the problem by cleaning them. He said that wax production is stimulated when the tiny hairs in the ear canal vibrate. If you clean your ears, this will actually lead to overproduction of wax.
I used to clean my ears with peroxide and I had ithchy ears all the time. I stopped cleaning them about five years ago and have not had itchy ears since. I also have much less wax in my ears than I had back then.
btw, i was just kidding about the soap and water. (that was a reference to washing behind the ears actually)
but JT, good info. Glad to know this. say, is this the same with picking your nose? 
If you get a peanut stuck in your ear, you can poor in chocolate and it comes out a Treet.
That joke doesn’t work so well now they’re called M&Ms
Hmm. Dunno. I went in to a GP one time (10+ years ago), feeling deaf in one ear, and he cleaned both of mine out with that peroxide stuff, then told me that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to do it regularly. And then there was my roommate’s problem a few weeks ago (mentioned above); he was advised to do it regularly too.
But maybe that’s just us. I don’t know of anyone else who has had problems. BTW, I never did get into cleaning them; I’ve been thinking of it again lately, but haven’t yet.
Heh - to clean or not to clean? All I can say is that I know you can buy little metal/wooden stick things with a scoop on the end for cleaning your ears - it seems to be a Chinese/Asian thing.
However, it’s also been shown that race is a influential factor on the type of earwax you have - wet or dry. I know no-one’s going to believe me, so here’s a link:
nature.com/nsu/010607/010607-4.html
So the ‘dry’ stuff prevalent in the Asian population might be easier to clean out without damaging yourself, hence the gadgets available for doing such. Or not. I’m just all about the trivia today
[quote=“Jack Burton”]
but JT, good info. Glad to know this. say, is this the same with picking your nose? [/quote]Dunno. I haven’t had any luck yet with quitting picking my nose. 
It seems the longer I live in mainland China, the more I pick my nose, even in public. My excuse is that since the air pollution here is so bad, my nose gets all buggered up more quickly, so I need to clean those bastards outta there. Maybe I’ll try to stop picking my nose and see what happens.
Ooooh yeah! Hydrogen Peroxide and Q-tips… all you need to give yourself an eargasm!
There is an ear, throat, and neck specialist near the Subway in Tienmou. The doctor once had Ronald Reagan as a patient. He speaks English quite well and is friendly (the doc). 
Chewy
Don’t use the peroxide kits. They emulsify the wax, so if you have a lot of wax you’ll end up with an ear clogged with emulsified wax.
If you really need to remove excessive wax (because it’s affecting your hearing or if you’re going scuba diving or flying) the best method is to spray a jet of water into your ear canal to dislodge the wax. You can do this yourself with a large syringe (make sure you sit in the bathtub because you can lose your balance!), or you can go to any ENT clinic. Actually, any GP office would do.
Yeah, and look what happened to Reagan.
I’ve had my lug’oles vacuumed twice here. The second time was at a clinic. The bloke stuck a nozzle in my ear and sucked out great globs of wax. He was pretty clumsy though, and when the nozzle tip sucked on to something inside that wasn’t wax, it hurt like buggery so I didn’t go back.
The first time, though, it was at a hospital and the sucker was a gorgeous little nurse of no more than 19 or 20. She had on one of those v-necked hospital uniforms along with a too-loose bra, and every time she leaned over to suck me, I found myself at eye level with the most perfect little pair of bare titties. I can’t remember if she hurt me or not, but I probably wouldn’t have noticed if she’d stuck an ice pick in there.
I like the burning wax tube idea. Are you sure you can just go to a night market to get this done?
Yeah, and look what happened to Reagan.
I’ve had my lug’oles vacuumed twice here. The second time was at a clinic. The bloke stuck a nozzle in my ear and sucked out great globs of wax. He was pretty clumsy though, and when the nozzle tip sucked on to something inside that wasn’t wax, it hurt like buggery so I didn’t go back.
The first time, though, it was at a hospital and the sucker was a gorgeous little nurse of no more than 19 or 20. She had on one of those v-necked hospital uniforms along with a too-loose bra, and every time she leaned over to suck me, I found myself at eye level with the most perfect little pair of bare titties. I can’t remember if she hurt me or not, but I probably wouldn’t have noticed if she’d stuck an ice pick in there.[/quote]
I actually felt like telling him that posting political pictures in a medical environment might offend half of the clientele. While I would never have voted for the “Gipper,” I was entertained that someone hung up a picture (50cm X50 cm) at the front of his practice.
Chewy
I’ve done everything. Traditional Chinese earwax scrapers and Qtips work, but my American doctor friends all tell me it’s really bad to stick anything in your ear because you could pierce your ear drums and screw your life up permanently. I’ve tried over-the-counter solutions (peroxide?) and those were great because the wax just floats to the top and then you just need to rinse it out a little. Also had a doctor squirt water in my ear before but I recall it was very painful getting water squirted in my ears with so much pressure. Since hearing from my doctor friends that it’s really bad to stick things in my ears, I stopped using Qtips. And whaddaya know. I feel absolutely no different than before, no better and no worse. I finally realized it is completely and totally unnecessary to clean one’s ears of wax. I guess Americans tend to be overly neurotic about hygiene and maybe this is one of those instances where the best thing to do is nothing.
This has actually happened to my uncle. He was getting a haircut at a local hairdressers, the lady there offered to clean his ears and she accidentally pierced the ear drums in his left ear. 