Have you ever had your ears flushed to clean out the wax?

[Drunken Irishman]

For some weird reason I have bad buildup of wax in my ears and every so often have to go to the doctor to get it all flushed out. Man, that is painful. Especially when they take that damn picker and SCRAPE it off the inside of your ear canal. Oh my hell, I have a pretty high tolerance for pain and that gets me every time. I HATE IT!

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

1. I had my ears sucked out when I was 10 years old. No scraping.

And I had sonic hearing after that. I had problems hearing when I was in elementary school and I had so much wax buildup in my ears. I had to hold my nose closed the entire time. I actually fell asleep. It was either that or look at the light.

[LadyoftheRabbits]

2. Yes, it was... awful

But I haven't been used to having an influx of water in my ears most of my life because of tubes, so that might have been why. :P

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear Drunken Irishman...

My doctors used to do that too...

But my new EarNoseThroat MD does it differently: He uses a vacuum to suck the stuff out...

It's much nicer!

It is noisy, though...

And that can be a little painful when they get down near your eardrum...

But then it's over, and you can hear!

[YellowRubberDuckie]

4. Yes...

My doctor uses this spray bottle pump with a long hose. It's actually very comfortable, and doesn't hurt. I have sensitive ears.
She just pumps the spray bottle until everything comes out. It's nice especially when they use warm water.
Duckie

[Aristus]

5. Okay, Whoa! Hold On! Time Out! I do ear lavage for a living, and I can tell you:

scraping it out or vacuuming it out are really, really bad ideas. I lavage the skankiest, most densely clogged ears you can imagine, and I do it with an ear syringe, warm water, and nothing else. Scraping and vacuuming can damage the tympanic membrane. If it can't be cleaned out in office with just the syringe and warm water, you need to see a specialist. I used to use a 10% solution of Hydrogen Peroxide and warm water, but the PA I work with advised me to ditch the H2O2; says it's bad for the cells in the ear. Hydrogen Peroxide can make the cells in the tissues of your ear give up oxygen, which can damage them.

So remember, people, have your medical provider or his/her assistant use just the items I've named. If they think they can't do a successful lavage without scraping or vacuuming, find someone else.

And now you know more about ear lavage than you probably ever meant to. B-)

[Book Lover]

7. You clean ear canals for a living?

I think I have now heard everything, and I read ohiosmith's Water Store thread....

[Aristus]

8. I'm a Medical Assistant; ear lavage is just one of the many things I do in the course

of a workday. I also draw blood, give immunizations, fit casts and splints, change wound dressings, and bawl out mothers who smoke but think it's okay because they "do it outside, away from the baby." There are times when I do more ear lavages in the course of a day than at others...

[Book Lover]

9. Oh, oh! I thought I was hearing a tale of medical specialization gone wild (nm)

[Drunken Irishman]

11. Interesting.

I'll say this, they did use the hot water and ear syringe to clean out one ear. However, the assistant looked at the other and said it was soft enough and she could just scrape/pick it off.

[pokerfan]

15. Yep, I have to flush my ears about once a year

I bought a kit that came with a rubber syringe and some drops that soften the wax.

[SPKrazy]

6. with a waterpick thing

made me dizzier than hell

:rofl:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

10. Just once.

They retrieved such a humongous hunka hunka stuff I had to ask them if they were sure that was wax and not my brain.

They wouldn't answer me. I have no idea why.

:shrug:

[Drunken Irishman]

12. Me fail english? That's unpossible!

[flvegan]

13. I've used a peroxide/alcohol mix.

I know lots of folks that swear by ear candling.

[DeepBlueC]

14. You can use a drop of olive oil in each ear

at night for a few days before you see the doc and it will soften up the wax enough to be easily syringed out with some warm water. Or mineral oil. Either one works. It does temporarily make your ears feel more stuffy but it makes the removal easier and more safe.

[Maestro]

16. I have had the flushes done several times.

Some people are simply prone to overproduction of cerumen. I suppose you and I are some of them. I have only endured the scraping once though and the doc touch my eardrum. That was one of the most painful experiences. Ouch!

[VolcanoJen]

17. Ear lavage is the safest, most effective method...

... and there's nothing painful about it. The medical professional will use warm water, of course... cold water and you'd be unbearably uncomfortable!

It's practically instant and you won't believe you didn't just go to the doctor sooner.... scraping and picking sounds awful and terribly dangerous!