i cant say that i ever knew much about cleaning out ear wax. i grew up sticking Qtips in my ear to clean 'em out, despite the general rule that nothing smaller than your elbow should ever be put into your ear. when we were little, my mother often ignored the doctor's warnings and cleaned out my ears with a small black hair pin. she was always careful and never did any harm to our ears, but perhaps some harm to our relationship. rooting around in delicate ears with piece of bent metal...not the kind of act that engenders feelings of warmth and love.
so that's all i know about cleaning out ear wax...basically all the ways how NOT to do it. when i was in college a friend once told me that i should just let water run in my ears while i shower. so to this day, i always do that, but when i get out of the shower, i'm back to shoving Qtips in my ears because i dont think they feel clean.
so when it's time to clean my kids' ears, i know i'm not supposed to swab the inside, so i swab the outside and just the inner rim of the ear canal. i know there's still lots of wax in there because at every doctor's visit the doctor always says, "there's a lot of ear wax in there."
my kids have never had an ear infection, but that doesnt mean that i dont worry that one day they might. or that i dont worry about the ear wax getting impacted in there. i have never had the guts to go in after the wax with a hair pin the way my mom did. i started to think, well maybe if i could see in their ears i could keep abreast of any problems. so i went online and bought an otoscope.
when it arrived i checked their ears and basically all i could see was wax. the wax was blocking my view of their ear drums, so more than ever, i felt it was necessary to learn how to clear out all that wax build up. time to investigate.
i remembered seeing an ad in a magazine for Murine ear wash. it's a canister of saline that sprays the water out backwards to wash out the wax. i bought a canister and tried it out on my own ears. the water was cold and loud and messy. i couldnt see either of my children sitting still for it. and i saw no ear wax exit my ears from having used it. next.
back to the store, i find ear wax removal kits, which is basically carbamide peroxide (to soften the wax) and a small bulb syringe to flush out the softened wax. but the kits say not to use on children under the age of 12 years old. next.
i asked about ozzy's pediatrician about ear wax removal for young kids and she said to try a mixture of watered down hydrogen peroxide (about half/half). a few drops in each ear and flush. later i read online that peroxide could be irritating to the ears. so i didnt bother. next.
not long after, at mimi's well check i asked the doctor (different doctor) about ear wax removal and he said to just put a few drops of glycerin in each ear once a week at bedtime. the wax would soften and come out on its own. after checking online, this seemed to be one treatment that i was comfortable with. so onto amazon.com to order some glycerin and lo and behold the arsenal of ear wax removal tools on the market!
i start reading reviews and loading up my cart. along with the glycerin, i found a lighted ear wax removal tool which is a long handle instrument with attachments: two sized scoops and one tweezer (yes, i know you're not supposed to put anything in the ear, but it really looks handy), and a special ear syringe for flushing out the ears that has several openings not at the end of the tip but along the sides of the tip to spray down the ear walls not blast the ear drums directly.
as soon as they arrive, i get to work on mimi's ears. the lighted tool was amazing. it's like entering a mine shaft with ultra bright lamp on your hat. i could see every bit of wax in her ears! and they were pretty large. i made mimi sit very still (i didnt want a sudden movement that might cause the instrument to jab her in her ear) when i nudge the lump of wax with the scoop mimi said it hurt and i realized that mammoth piece was hanging onto all those ear hairs. she didnt like the scoop at all. i tried it again with the tweezer attachment and hauled out one of these from each ear:
after i swallowed the vomit back down, i assured mimi that we would not have to go thru this again. i am going to use the glycerin drop every week to keep one of these suckers from building up ever again!
so that's all i know about cleaning out ear wax...basically all the ways how NOT to do it. when i was in college a friend once told me that i should just let water run in my ears while i shower. so to this day, i always do that, but when i get out of the shower, i'm back to shoving Qtips in my ears because i dont think they feel clean.
so when it's time to clean my kids' ears, i know i'm not supposed to swab the inside, so i swab the outside and just the inner rim of the ear canal. i know there's still lots of wax in there because at every doctor's visit the doctor always says, "there's a lot of ear wax in there."
my kids have never had an ear infection, but that doesnt mean that i dont worry that one day they might. or that i dont worry about the ear wax getting impacted in there. i have never had the guts to go in after the wax with a hair pin the way my mom did. i started to think, well maybe if i could see in their ears i could keep abreast of any problems. so i went online and bought an otoscope.
when it arrived i checked their ears and basically all i could see was wax. the wax was blocking my view of their ear drums, so more than ever, i felt it was necessary to learn how to clear out all that wax build up. time to investigate.
i remembered seeing an ad in a magazine for Murine ear wash. it's a canister of saline that sprays the water out backwards to wash out the wax. i bought a canister and tried it out on my own ears. the water was cold and loud and messy. i couldnt see either of my children sitting still for it. and i saw no ear wax exit my ears from having used it. next.
back to the store, i find ear wax removal kits, which is basically carbamide peroxide (to soften the wax) and a small bulb syringe to flush out the softened wax. but the kits say not to use on children under the age of 12 years old. next.
i asked about ozzy's pediatrician about ear wax removal for young kids and she said to try a mixture of watered down hydrogen peroxide (about half/half). a few drops in each ear and flush. later i read online that peroxide could be irritating to the ears. so i didnt bother. next.
not long after, at mimi's well check i asked the doctor (different doctor) about ear wax removal and he said to just put a few drops of glycerin in each ear once a week at bedtime. the wax would soften and come out on its own. after checking online, this seemed to be one treatment that i was comfortable with. so onto amazon.com to order some glycerin and lo and behold the arsenal of ear wax removal tools on the market!
i start reading reviews and loading up my cart. along with the glycerin, i found a lighted ear wax removal tool which is a long handle instrument with attachments: two sized scoops and one tweezer (yes, i know you're not supposed to put anything in the ear, but it really looks handy), and a special ear syringe for flushing out the ears that has several openings not at the end of the tip but along the sides of the tip to spray down the ear walls not blast the ear drums directly.
as soon as they arrive, i get to work on mimi's ears. the lighted tool was amazing. it's like entering a mine shaft with ultra bright lamp on your hat. i could see every bit of wax in her ears! and they were pretty large. i made mimi sit very still (i didnt want a sudden movement that might cause the instrument to jab her in her ear) when i nudge the lump of wax with the scoop mimi said it hurt and i realized that mammoth piece was hanging onto all those ear hairs. she didnt like the scoop at all. i tried it again with the tweezer attachment and hauled out one of these from each ear:
after i swallowed the vomit back down, i assured mimi that we would not have to go thru this again. i am going to use the glycerin drop every week to keep one of these suckers from building up ever again!
Hilarious... definitely gross but hilarious nonetheless! Love your stories, Un-nie.
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