Take Care of Your Ears:
What Is Earwax?

Earwax consists of an oily substance secreted by the cerumen glands, mixed with dirt and sloughed skin cells from the ear canal.  The skin of the ear canal grows fastest around the eardrum and migrates outward toward the ear canal bringing the wax with it.  The wax glands are all located in the outer portion of the ear canal.  The wax serves to lubricate the ears and keeps the skin from becoming dry, chapped, itchy, or infected.  Wax can accumulate under a variety of circumstances.

Insufficient secretion of cerumen makes the earwax quite hard and brittle.  This is a natural occurrence with aging. Excess cerumen secretion makes the earwax sticky.  Sometimes this wax does not migrate outward as it should.  Older individuals have more hair in their ears and noses.  Profuse hair can thicken earwax the way straw thickens mud into bricks.  Any irritation of the external ear canal may cause faster turnover of the skin cells in the ear canal.  Excess skin will produce a larger volume of earwax.  Water is often blamed for causing earwax or aggravating earwax.  Wax will often absorb water and swell beyond its normal size.  People who wear hearing aids or earplugs often push wax in deeper each time they insert the device. When this occurs, the ear canal may suddenly block off, creating a noticeable discomfort and loss of hearing. 

DON’T  USE Q-TIPS!

Q-tips pack wax into the ear canal like a ramrod packs a bullet into a musket!  The middle third of the ear canal is the narrowest portion of the canal.  Deep to this, the canal is bony and extremely tender.  All of the wax is produced outside of the bony narrowing.  The head of the cotton-tipped applicator is about the size of the entire ear canal.  Most patients who “use Q-tips only around the edge of the ear canal” are inserting the Q-tip all the way onto the eardrum itself.  Examination frequently demonstrates small scratches and wax smeared the eardrum. 

How To Remove Earwax

Carbamyl peroxide is a popular earwax softening agent, sold under brand names such as Debrox and Murine Earwax Removal System.  Mineral oil and hydrogen peroxide may be less expensive substitutes.  Oily drops may be placed in the ears three times daily for about three days.  The ear then can be flushed out with warm water.  You may stand close to the shower and turn your ear up toward the shower-head.  Do not do this if you have a shower massage or other unusual high pressure system. 

You may also irrigate with a bulb syringe sold for this purpose at most pharmacies.  Be careful not to insert the tip of the irrigating device deep into the ear and be careful not to block off the exit path for the return of water that is injected into the ear.  Do not continue any treatment that is uncomfortable and consult your physician if you notice any bleeding, hearing loss, or pain. 

For more information about Otolaryngology or about ENT disorders click here.