Dr. V Manjunath

There is a tradition in a lot of families to clean ears regularly with ear buds or q tips and those who don't do it are many times considered unhygienic. But it may risk hearing ability. Inside ear is a very delicate structure and is likely to be damaged easily even with trivial trauma.

First, we must understand that wax has a useful role to play in the ear, it lubricates protects and renders antiseptic property. Ears without wax feel dry and itchy. Wax is self-cleaned from our ear canal propagated by movements of the jaw. So most of the times there is never any need to clean wax from inside the ears. The only external surface of the ear should be cleaned with a cloth.

Many times attempts to clean ears with ear buds results in injury to the delicate skin of ear canal and even worse it may injure the eardrum or if there is a wax chunk it may push deep into the eardrums.

Earwax needs to cleaned only when it obstructs the sound pathway to ear drum. When there is a feeling of fullness or blockage or plugged, there is a partial hearing loss there is ringing in the ears or tinnitus or noise in the ear or there is itching or odour in the ear.

Many times home remedies are useful to remove ear wax like instilling drops of mineral oil glycerine or commercially available drops. If not successful then it should be removed by ent surgeon. Ent surgeon may wash earwax out with warm water or saline. Sometimes ent surgeon may remove wax by suction or microinstruments under a microscope. There is no proven remedy for frequent wax impaction but it is very important to avoid inserting any object inside the ear to clean wax. Those who get frequent wax impaction or using hearing aids may need to see ent surgeon every 6 to 12 months to clean wax regularly.