Earwax is probably not something you’ve given much thought to, but it’s actually a critical component of your ear health. Discover everything you never knew you needed to know about earwax here.
What is earwax?
Essentially, earwax serves as an efficient self-cleaning service for your ears, protecting the sensitive ear canal from bacteria and debris that can cause infections.
Earwax is naturally produced by glands in the ear canal and can range in colour from yellow to bright orange to dark brown. Your body will normally produce enough earwax to keep you healthy, but sometimes this wax becomes hard and impacted, causing hearing loss or discomfort.
What is the primary cause of earwax?
Most of us are familiar with earwax and probably don’t think much of it. But why do we have earwax? Earwax is a good thing to have in your ears because it helps to protect your ears and maintain their health. That is why your body naturally produces it.
Anti-bacterial
Its sticky texture keeps bacteria and germs from spreading deeper into the ear, where they can cause infections.
Inbuilt cleaning service
Eventually, the earwax containing any trapped dirt or bacteria will fall out without your knowledge, cleaning as it goes.
Maintains pH.
Earwax lubricates the skin and helps to maintain the ear’s natural pH balance, preventing irritation and dryness while also promoting overall ear health. Its slightly acidic pH inhibits bacterial growth and prevents infection.
Keeps out unwelcome guests
Earwax is also a natural insect repellent, so if you’ve ever felt a tickling sensation in your ear, don’t worry about anything creepy or crawly.
Why are we so obsessed with ear wax? Could it be that the nation’s ears are becoming waxier? Discover more in our latest hindsight report: An ear in review.
Problems caused by earwax
Ear wax is naturally produced by glands in the ear canal, and the body typically knows how much ear wax to produce to protect the ear and prevent problems. However, earwax production can occasionally go awry, causing your body to produce more earwax than necessary or to become drier or stickier than usual.
This can occur for a variety of reasons, including excessive headphone use, narrow ear canals, or the result of certain skin conditions or ear infections.
What are the symptoms of earwax buildup?
Earwax buildup can cause:
- Itchy ears.
- discomfort or earache.
- Tinnitus
- Hearing loss
- Infections
And for hearing aid users, it can cause:
- Damage or the need for regular cleaning of the hearing aid.
- Hearing aids can cause whistling noises due to poor fitting or.
- discomfort during daily use.
How do you stop earwax buildup?
You really can’t do anything to lessen the quantity of earwax your glands produce because your body naturally produces it. On the other hand, excessive earwax can be managed with safe ear cleaning and earwax removal techniques. However, it’s crucial to consult a professional rather than attempting unguided techniques you find online, like ear candling.
A thorough hearing test may be challenging to conduct if there is a wax accumulation in the ears. It can impede the view of the eardrum, making it difficult for your hearing care specialist to perform an accurate assessment of your hearing and lead to erroneous test results. It also causes problems if you need to get hearing aids fitted or have an ear mould taken.
An audiologist may advise using drops prior to your appointment to help soften the wax and enable it to fall out of the ear naturally.
For the process to be as comfortable and successful as possible, the wax must be soft. For five days, we advise applying medicated oil drops or a spray like Earol once a day to the afflicted ear.
What does the colour of your ear wax represent?
How should your ears be safely cleaned?
Because your ears are meant to be self-cleaning, they typically generate enough earwax to keep issues from arising and expel it entirely from the ear on their own.
Many people use cotton buds to “clean” their ears of excess wax, but doing so increases the risk of earwax blockage and other problems. It causes a build-up of impacted wax by pushing the earwax deeper into the ear rather than eliminating it.
Impacted earwax can cause infection if left untreated, necessitating medical attention.
How ear wax is removed
Medical practitioners would traditionally use techniques like ear syringing or candling to get rid of an accumulation of earwax. We steer clear of these techniques because they run the risk of adding to the problems already present with your ear health, like infections, tinnitus, and eardrum damage.
Microsuction
The quickest and safest way to remove ear wax, including hard or impacted wax, is with ear microsuction. Because the eardrum is not touched and the delicate skin of the ear canal is not touched, the procedure is far more comfortable.
The medical suction tool will carefully and swiftly remove the earwax while continuously keeping a microscope-style view of the ear canal. In order to guarantee wax removal
swiftly, comfortably, and with the least amount of chance of developing new issues.
Manual removal
With this earwax removal technique, the wax is carefully teased out of the ear canal using tiny, specialised tools.
Usually, this would be applied with soft wax in minor cases. If the wax is hard or impacted, it will need to be softened with drops over a few days.
Are you experiencing earwax buildup symptoms?
Get your earwax safely removed by a professional if you’re having trouble with buildup.