Ear Cleaning: How often?

[dingusxmcgee]

How often do you clean out your ears? And how do you do it?

I find myself scraping ear wax out of my ears every few weeks and seems like I get a good amount each time.
A variety of “instruments” are used but a small screw driver usually does the best job

[fohat.digs]

Ouch! NO!

Get one of these for $1.99 at Walgreens.

[tp4tissue]

Just the cottonswab after every shower. nohting fnacy

[pixelpusher]

It's a tricky one b/c General Practitioners say different than ENT.  ENT will tell you never do more than clean the outside of your ear.  So, the experts will say never put anything in there at all.  Ever.  I think the idea is that there shouldn't be any reason to clean it out, unless there is something wrong with your ears.  It's like asking what you should clean your pee hole out with.  There's no need.

But I still do    The ear thing.  The other one seems more painful.

[Findecanor]

I would say that the "proper" method is to use an ear cleaning oil: A few drops in the ear and wait a few minutes while laying on the other ear. Then spray the ear with water.
But that takes a bit of time, so I use a cotton swab most of the time, carefully - although doctors say that you should never have anything enter your ear canal.

I've once been to a health centre to get a wax-plug removed by a nurse: she used a water spray and nothing else.

[dingusxmcgee]

I have definitely heard the “never stick anything in there” more than once though I’ve never seen that little ear cleaner device before.

The other day I got an Instagram ad for a little ear scraper that has a camera and a Bluetooth connection to your smartphone so you can see what you’re scraping
I would never buy it but boy howdy would I use it if someone got it for me.

Hadn’t heard of ear oil, but I have used some ear candles several years ago. They seemed to REALLY do the trick and was a pretty interesting experience to boot.

[Faceman76]

Cotton swab every day, once a week I dip the swab in alcohol. Never had a buildup issue.

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[Olumin]

Just the Q-tips after every shower. One side wet with warm water, the other side dry. Wet first, dry second. I’ve been doing this my whole life and had my ears professionally inspected several times, always clean.

The worries some people have seem to be unfounded. The risk is in using those cotton swabs when there is already a large amount of wax buildup in the ear canal. There is the real possibility of jamming it further down the canal with the swab, which can lead to problems like infections. When cleaned regularly, it never comes to this point in the first place and it should be fine.

[fohat.digs]

I’ve never seen that little ear cleaner device before.

I have used some ear candles several years ago.

The "button" on the shaft of the scooper prevents it from going too deep, and the rounded head prevents you from cutting the ear drum. Works great and is very much safer than a screwdriver.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/expert-answers/ear-candling/faq-20058212

[tp4tissue]

I believe classically people used matchsticks.

[noisyturtle]

Once a week after a shower, 1 q-tip per ear using both ends

[jamster]

It's a tricky one b/c General Practitioners say different than ENT.  ENT will tell you never do more than clean the outside of your ear.  So, the experts will say never put anything in there at all.  Ever.  I think the idea is that there shouldn't be any reason to clean it out, unless there is something wrong with your ears.  It's like asking what you should clean your pee hole out with.  There's no need.

But I still do    The ear thing.  The other one seems more painful.

To be fair, ENTs probably only see one end of the spectrum, where something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.

[tp4tissue]

Generally we don't tell people to open their keyboards, cut it in half, solder some wires between them.

That's for Xperts only.   Same with the ears.

[SBJ]

We have a shower head that can turn from spray into a single stream, so I just flush out the ol' ears when I'm in the shower.
I used to have a lot of problems with buildup inside my ear that I'd need to go to the doctor to get out. Not after I started doing this.

[tp4tissue]

We have a shower head that can turn from spray into a single stream, so I just flush out the ol' ears when I'm in the shower.
I used to have a lot of problems with buildup inside my ear that I'd need to go to the doctor to get out. Not after I started doing this.

This is highly irregular, potentially dangerous.

[SBJ]

We have a shower head that can turn from spray into a single stream, so I just flush out the ol' ears when I'm in the shower.
I used to have a lot of problems with buildup inside my ear that I'd need to go to the doctor to get out. Not after I started doing this.

This is highly irregular, potentially dangerous.

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It's not like I do it at full blast dude.
There's barely any preassure.

[tp4tissue]

It's not like I do it at full blast dude.
There's barely any preassure.

Tp4 were imagining something like Jet jetting on the garden sprayer hose, as opposed to shower setting .

[fohat.digs]

Guys, this is nuts. All it takes to do it safely and easily is 2 simple plastic gadgets that cost $2 each.

Fill the bulb with warm water and give it a strong squirt to soften the wax. Scoop out the excess, and then give it another squirt to flush out the loose scraps.

And you DON'T want to dig down to the eardrum - a layer of wax is there for a reason.

[SBJ]

It's not like I do it at full blast dude.
There's barely any preassure.

Tp4 were imagining something like Jet jetting on the garden sprayer hose, as opposed to shower setting .

Show Image

Damn dude.
No it's not that at all. - Just a very gentle stream of water into the ear canal.

[iri]

Ear cleaning innovation shouldn't stop at screwdriver.

[Kavik]

I use a Q-tip, but I find it extremely uncomfortable to go very deep with it. The feeling of anything touching the ear drum is highly unpleasant. I don't do it very often though, maybe once every month or two since there's rarely anything in there more often than that.

Like Findecanor, I had to have a clump of ear wax removed at the doctor's office a few years ago after some persistent ear pain. The nurse used a water gun contraption, which really hurt. She instructed me to tap out when the pain got too bad so she could back off for a second, which I had to do a couple times.

Interesting difference between populations: I remember reading that people of European decent tend to have yellow, sticky ear wax and people of East Asian decent tend to have white, dry ear wax. Idk where other ethnicities fall on the ear wax spectrum. Mine is more dark amber, so idk what's wrong with me.