Remember how Shrek literally pulled out a candle from his ear for the dinner table? Ever tried doing it yourself? Well, the stuff in your ears may be called wax, but it can t really be used to make a candle. However, it certainly can signify a lot about your health. Though the idea of discussing earwax is rather disgusting, it actually plays a pivotal role in keeping your ears healthy and functioning. Earwax protects your eardrums by barring the entry of insects, fungi, bacteria, dust and bacteria. In clinical terms, earwax is also known as cerumen. 

Studies indicate that children typically produce more earwax than adults. The earwax in your ear is a combination of alcohol, shed layers of the ear, unsaturated and saturated long-chain fatty acids and squalene. In order to clean earwax, you should not insert objects too deep in your ear, instead, you can just wipe it off with a cotton swab.  The color and texture of the earwax removed can actually indicate your overall health condition, stress level, genetic ancestry, etc.

Know what your earwax color says about your health 
Pale yellow to yellow earwax: It is the most common type of earwax and indicates overall good health. Children typically produce soft, pale yellow earwax and in case of adults, the color should remain the same, but the texture tends to be sticky. 
Wet vs. dry earwax: Wet and dry are the genetically determined earwax types, wherein, the 'wet type' is dominant and the 'dry type' is recessive. A research, conducted on Biologic variation in health and illness: race, age, and sex differences (1985) by Overfield, Theresa, established that dry-type earwax indicates East Asian and Native American ancestry, while wet-type indicates African and European. 
Thick, dark and black colored earwax: The production of earwax is also influenced by your stress level i.e. when you are stressed out, the glands that are responsible for the production of earwax work overtime and produce excess amount of earwax. As this earwax collects, it can turn thicker and darker thus, this type of earwax is a sign of increased stress level. And, black colored earwax indicates that it has been accumulating in your ears for quite some time and has not been cleaned. To avoid this, it is essential to clean your ears from time to time and in the right way. 
Dry, gray earwax: The gray color of the wax is an indication of dust build-up and must be cleaned properly at regular intervals. However, if your earwax suddenly seems dry and brittle, it could be the sign of a skin infection. Dry earwax accompanied by itchiness in the ear is usually a sign of eczema.
Bloody earwax: Blood in the earwax should never be ignored. This could be caused by an ear infection or can be a sign of ruptured eardrum and you must consult your doctor immediately. 
Thus it is important that you take proper care of your ears so as to ensure that your hearing is maintained and although earwax protects your ears against infections and problems, it must be cleaned from time to time. It is advisable that you get your ears cleaned professionally, in case you are suffering from certain ailments such as Diabetes.

Earwax - Did You Know Its Color Can Say A Lot About Your Health?

Our ears are small in size, but  big  in the work they do. Not only do they help us hear, but also help us maintain our body s balance. They thus help us stand, walk, drive you just name it.

Ears are also much bigger in size than they actually are. The part of the ear that we see on our head is only the external ear, there is a middle ear and an inner ear too, silently carrying out complex functions related to hearing and balance. The middle ear that lies behind your ear drum is the seat of balance. And this part is hit hard at the time of an ear infection.

Ear infections cause the Eustachian tubes   small tubes that connect the middle ear to the back of your throat   to become swollen and blocked due to excess mucus. As a result of this, fluid builds up and inflammation takes root in the middle ear, thereby causing pain.

Ear infections can be acute or chronic. Acute infections clear up in a few days, but chronic ones reoccur frequently. If not managed, chronic ear infections can cause permanent damage to the middle and inner ear.

Causes of Eustachian tube blockage are as follows:

Allergies
Sinus infection
Cold
Extreme production of mucus
Smoking
Infected adenoid, which is a tissue near your tonsils that traps harmful bacteria and viruses
There are a few risk factors associated with ear infections. It can be said that young children are more susceptible to these infections. This is because their Eustachian tubes are short and narrow. It has also been seen that infants who are bottle-fed have a higher incidence of ear infections than breastfed babies.

Other risk factors are:

Changes in altitude
Changes in climate
Exposure to tobacco smoke
Use of pacifiers
Symptoms of ear infections:

Pain or discomfort inside the ear
A prolonged feeling of pressure inside the ear
Pus-like ear drainage
Hearing loss
What is also important to know is that the symptoms of an ear infection come and go. 

Symptoms can also occur in one or both ears. Chronic ear infection symptoms can be less noticeable than those of acute ear infections.

Hence, fever and ear ache should spur you to see a doctor. You should be extremely careful with babies younger than six months who have fever or ear infection symptoms.

Your doctor will diagnose an ear infection by checking if there is a draining of fluid from the middle ear, perforation in the eardrum or a collapsed eardrum.

Sometimes, ear infections can lead to the following serious complications:

Hearing loss
Speech or language delay in children
An infection in a skull bone called mastoiditis
Meningitis
Ruptured ear drum

Causes And Symptoms Of Ear Infections

Bleeding from the nose in medical terminology is called 'Epistaxis'. It may be an indicator of weakened mucosa or septum or an inner disease. Bleeding from nose can occur suddenly, threatening life and making everyone anxious and restless. The nose comprises of many tiny vessels that bleed easily. Air movement through the nose can dry up and irritate the membranes lining the inside of the nose thus leading to formation of crusts. These crusts bleed when irritated by rubbing or blowing the nose. The lining of the nose is more likely to become dry and irritated from low humidity, allergies, cold, or sinusitis. Hence nosebleeds occur more frequently in the winter when viruses are common and heated indoor air dries out the nostrils.

The homoeopathic treatment not only treats for nose bleeding, it also tries to address the underlying the cause for the nosebleed condition. Since Homeopathy treatment is patient-oriented, in contrast to disease oriented allopathy, it gives importance to every feeling of the patient and aggravating factors. It reduces or stops bleeding by strengthening the nasal mucous membranes, blood vessel walls and by reducing congestion. By raising the immunity power, it prevents allergic reaction in the nose. Homeopathic treatment can give permanent relief to nose bleed without any side-effects.


As homeopathy works by restoring the vital balance in the body, it is an ideal therapy for the treatment of nosebleeds. One can choose one of the remedies listed below in the 6c or 30c strength, depending on the cause and symptoms. 


When nosebleeds occur as a result of injury or after washing the face, with the nosebleed preceded by burning sensation, Arnica is excellent. Arnica is useful when there is copious bleeding after every over-exertion and during whooping cough. If there is a nosebleed after a fit of anger with a passive haemorrhage, accompanied by vomiting and nausea, Arsen alb has been found to be very effective. 
Belladonna is recommended for nosebleeds in little children which occurs during fever at night. Belladonna is also effective when the nose bleeds in bed or on waking in the morning. Elderly people who sneeze a lot leading to nose bleed can take Carbo veg. They feel very fatigued and want cold air on them or want to be fanned. 


Children suffering from worms should be given Cina. Such children have a constant desire to rub or pick into the nose, which damages the nasal mucosa. Ferrum phos is recommended if the person is pale, flushed, feels weak and feverish. When there is frequent nosebleeds due to a friable capillary in the nostril accompanied with engorged veins in the legs, then Hamamelis (witch hazel) gives relief. 
Kali bich is a useful remedy for nosebleeds after a cold, preceded by pressure and tightness at the root of the nose. Phosphorus is helpful when profuse, bright red blood flows freely and will not clot, whereas Pulsatilla is for constitutional people with nasal polyps that cause nosebleeds.


These medicines should be taken only after the diagnosis cum advice of a qualified Homeopath.

Homoeopathic Treatment For Nose Bleeding - Effective Medicines

Are you experiencing severe hearing loss or turning deaf? To get back your normal hearing, you should undertake a cochlear. It is a small device which is planted in your ear via a surgical procedure. It sends impulses to the auditory nerve directly and as a result, sound signals are carried to your brain. Such an implant does not make you hear like normal again, but it helps you with sounds and knowing sounds around you such as telephones, alarms and doorbells.

How Does Cochlear Implant Work?

Cochlear implant is meant for adults and children who have sensorineural hearing loss. This is a condition which damages the tiny hair cells in the inner ear known as the cochlea. Your hearing gets impaired when these are damaged. A cochlear implant sends signals to the auditory nerve directly by skipping the damaged hair cells.

The device has two distinct parts. One part is the receiver-stimulator which is placed under the skin via surgery. The other part is the speech processor, which is worn around the back of the ear like a hearing aid. The outside device is, however, bigger in size than a hearing aid.

The receiver is placed under the skin, behind the ear through a small incision and it gets connected to electrodes. This is put into the cochlea of the inner ear. The surgery takes about some hours to be completed.

Two weeks after the surgery, the speech processor is fitted by the doctor. You will have to wear a microphone behind your ear. The processor can be connected to the microphone and worn around the ear. It can also be worn at any other place of the body, depending on your age and lifestyle.

Advantages of Cochlear Implant-

The major advantages of a cochlear implant are as follows:

You may be able to hear speech at an almost normal level.

You may understand speech without the help of lip reading.

It will be easy for you to talk on the phone and listen to the television.

Your experience of listening to music will improve.

You will be able to pick up different sounds starting from soft, medium to loud sounds.

You can also control your own voice in a better way, which will make it easier for others to understand you.

A cochlear implant can be a life changing device if you suffer from serious hearing loss. The results are not the same for everyone and vary from person to person. Some people may benefit more than others.

All You Need To Know About Cochlear Implant

Rhinoplasty is a surgery which is performed to work on and reshape the structure and size of your nose. It is done for various reasons: correction and reconstruction of the nose, restoring functionality and aesthetic enhancement. With the help of this surgery, the size of the nose can be altered, the angle of the nose in relation to the lips can be changed, tip of the nose can be altered and bumps, indentations or other abnormalities can be corrected.

Rhinoplasty is of two types:
Open rhinoplasty: The surgeon makes the incision on the columella.
Closed rhinoplasty: The surgeon makes an incision inside the nose without touching the septum.

The Surgery

The procedure takes 1-2 hours; however, hospital stay may be mandatory, if the procedure is complex. Either general or local anesthesia is used to perform rhinoplasty.
The surgeon will either make an incision outside the nose or inside. The incisions are done to get access to the cartilage and bones supporting the nose. Depending on what the patient requires, cartilage and bone may be added or removed, or tissue could be added.
After the rearrangement and reshaping is done, and the incision is sutured, a splint is put over the nose to support it as it heals. The splint and the nose are carefully bandaged.
The surgeries are either conducted by plastic surgeons or otolaryngologists and maxillofacial surgeons.
Aftercare

You can go home the day the surgery is performed.
Your face and nose will swell up and hurt after the surgery and headaches will be common.
The nasal splint will be removed after 3-5 days. You should feel more comfortable after this.
However, full recovery takes a longer time. The healing process is gradual and slow and there might be some numbness and swelling in your nose for months to come.

Scarless Nose Job - Things You Must Consider!

Tinnitus is the ringing in the ears in the absence of any external sound and the ringing heard is not related to any external source. Tinnitus is a symptom due to underlying ear disease.

Epidemiology

Worldwide 10%-15% of the population suffer from tinnitus and those suffering from ear-related problems are 85% of the population.

How do we know whether it is subjective or objective tinnitus?

Subjective tinnitus is the sound which only the patient hears and objective tinnitus is the sound which others can hear as well along with the patient. Ninety-five percent of the people suffer from subjective tinnitus due to problems in the inner, middle, and outer ear whereas rest 5% suffer from objective tinnitus which is due to any structural defect in the ear, neuromuscular condition, or a tumor in the head, neck, and brain.

Causes

Prolonged exposure to loud sound for a long duration can cause permanent damage to the ear, whereas exposure to a sound for short duration may restore hearing back.
Middle ear infection.
Injury to ear.
Age-related hearing loss: Hearing gets hampered with age which starts around 60 years of age. Hearing loss can lead to tinnitus.
Meniere s disease: It is an inner ear disease; tinnitus is an early symptom
Earwax: Normally earwax protects ear canal from dirt. When it accumulates, wax gets built up causing blockage leading to hearing loss.
Emotional stress Diseases of the heart
Drugs, such as aspirin, antidepressants, quinine, cancer medications, and diuretics.
Temporomandibular joint disorder
Acoustic neuroma
How to deal with it?

First, treat the underlying cause.A patient suffering from tinnitus should be counseled every 15 days. It reduces the stress onto those who are suffering from tinnitus and will boost up the patient.Tinnitus maskers/hearing aid is helpful in ignoring tinnitus frequency. Maintain your cardiovascular health with regular exercise, yoga, meditation, and medicines which control blood pressure. All these factors can help prevent tinnitus.

Can tinnitus be fatal?

It can vary from mild to severe which can cause distress such as interference with sleep and normal day to day routine activities. It can affect patient psychologically so much that patient goes into depression and can commit suicide.

How to evaluate tinnitus?

It can include an audiogram (hearing test), measurement of acoustic parameters and some of the imaging studies to be performed.

A pure tone hearing test is to be performed to find out the cause. Acoustic measurement of tinnitus includes measuring several parameters like frequency, the range of frequency, bandwidth, and loudness in dB above hearing threshold.
Residual inhibition helps indicate how useful tinnitus maskers would be.
Imaging studies like magnetic resonance angiography and Transcranial Doppler are to be performed to find out the underlying cause.

Tinnitus - What Causes It?

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