Cleaning out your horrid ear canals

[biggestmexi]

What is the best way to clean your ears out?

I heard that you shouldnt put anything in your ear bigger than your elbow from a company physical physician (phy phy phy) AKA q-tip.

How well do these candles work? What about the Air thing that blows it out backwards?

Or can you just take a warm shower and tilt your head under that? Will This cause swimmers ear? I had that before and WOWZA.


Thanks,

Aaron

[Dr Steve]

What is the best way to clean your ears out?

I heard that you shouldnt put anything in your ear bigger than your elbow from a company physical physician (phy phy phy) AKA q-tip.

How well do these candles work? What about the Air thing that blows it out backwards?

Or can you just take a warm shower and tilt your head under that? Will This cause swimmers ear? I had that before and WOWZA.


Thanks,

Aaron

Aaron:

Assuming you don't have any holes in your eardrums or any other ear problems, you can safely clean out your ears by using the technique of lavage.

The easiest way to lavage your ears is by using a MURINE EAR KIT. You can buy one at any pharmacy, and you'll get a rubber bulb syringe and a little bottle of glycerine/peroxide solution.

To clean a clogged ear, lie down with the clogged ear pointing up to the ceiling. Instill around 5-10 drops of the solution into your ear canal...you'll hear it foaming and bubbling in there, loosening up all that waxy goodness. Watch half an episode of Seinfeld or something, keeping that ear pointing up and filled with solution and then you're ready for the next step.

Now, fill a sink with lukewarm water. It really should be body temp...hotter and you risk hurting your ear, colder and you risk giving yourself vertigo (it's a long story, just trust me on this one). Turn your head so the clogged ear now points at the water. Fill up the bulb syringe and gently insert it into your ear canal. Gently squeeze the bulb, lavaging your ear canal with the jet of lukewarm water. After two or three tries, you should notice a massive glob of hairy wax sinking under the water. NICE!

Repeat on other ear.

Regarding "Ear Candles", they are complete and utter worthless bullshit. The junk you see on the end of the candle has been proven to come from the candle itself. If you don't believe me, wrap the end of one in a moist towel and stuff it in a glass to simulate the ear. Light the other end and examine the wrapped end after it burns...amazingly, there's wax on the end of the candle! Apparently the towel had earwax in it too.

NO QTIPS...they just push the wax back or puncture your eardrum. "Molto Male", as the italians say (or Bura hein, as Hindi speakers would say).

Regarding the shower thing...I speak from experience: the stream is WAY too powerful in most showers; I dislocated my stupid middle ear bones doing this crap and it's NOT RECOMMENDED. use the bulb syringe instead and be gentle with yourself.

hope this helps!



steve

[biggestmexi]

Awesome thanks for the info.

Now I go to douche my ear!:happy:

And do you have any recommendations about Vertigo.

I honestly get it a few times a month. Asked my doctor and he gave me Mecklazine.

But it doesnt only happen moving. I could be sitting and BAM dizzy as shit and (damnit) nashis (god damnit i know i spelled it wrong)

[tdawg420]

that was a good question. Dr. Steve rocks. I like the in-depth-ness of it all. I'm a huge Q-Tip guy. I was actually wondering the best way to clean out an ear and was thinking about trying the candle thing lol. I'll have to try that stuff too. I'd like a nice clean ear for once in my life. And a colon too actually. Clean my innards right out. but yeah I'm ramblin on - led zeppelin PEACE

-Trevor

[ANC]

Hey Dr. Steve! :bye:

Are you saying it's not good to use Q-Tips at all or just when you really want to clean your ears thoroughly?

[Jujubees2]

Hey Dr. Steve! :bye:

Are you saying it's not good to use Q-Tips at all or just when you really want to clean your ears thoroughly?

I used a Q-Tip to just clean the outer ear but don't insert it into the canal.

[Lawson]

This is who I go to whenever I find I have a foreign body lodged in my ear...

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t291/MrLawsonsPics/1799930862_2fd81e9abe.jpg

and he makes a lick-ass curry chicken

[Chigworthy]

So the ear candles don't work? Next thing you're gonna tell us is that ground up sun bear penis doesn't give gigantic erections, and sticking maxipads on your feet doesn't suck all the heavy metals out of your body. I thought eastern medicine was infallible.

[JustJon]

I did ear candling once, and I gotta say that it felt good, but ultimately had no real effect. I use the murine kits and they work brilliantly. And the spray of water in the ear feels good.

[fezident]

And a colon too actually. Clean my innards right out.

-Trevor

Colon cleansing doesn't provide any REAL benefits. There's plenty of evidence to support that although.... it might have a psychological benefit.

[Dr Steve]

Hey Dr. Steve! :bye:

Are you saying it's not good to use Q-Tips at all or just when you really want to clean your ears thoroughly?

Sorry, my browser isn't telling me when I have pending posts in the forum...I'll try to be more vigilant!

You can, indeed, use QTips for the outside of your ear, but don't stick 'em in the canal, ok? They just push crap around and can impact wax even worse than before.

your pal,


steve

[MobCounty]

I tried the ear candle a couple times, I could swear it worked, but then I read some shit on the web that said it was a scam...

a quick search will have you avoiding ear candles.

[Dr Steve]

I tried the ear candle a couple times, I could swear it worked, but then I read some shit on the web that said it was a scam...

a quick search will have you avoiding ear candles.

I just hate the whole ear candle scam. It's just so easy to disprove. Here are a couple of ways you can convince yourself that they're worthless:

1) go buy a really cheap otoscope (ear canal viewer). It used to be that only doctors had these, but now you can buy one at most pharmacies for less than $20.00. Find someone with a cerumen impaction and look in their ear with the otoscope. Note the mass of brown wax clogging the ear canal. Now shove an ear candle in there, turn the ear up, and light it (be careful you don't burn your dumb self, or your friend). After it's done, look at the "wax" on the end of the candle. Then use the otoscope to confirm for yourself that all you did was impact the wax further into the ear with the stupid candle.


2) Stick a candle into a glass and light it...watch the 'ear wax' magically appear on the end of the candle...it must be transporting the wax out of your ear magically!

there are more ways, but it just irritates me to think of it. I'm cool with "alternative" medicine, truly, and we've talked about it on Ron and Fez, but ear candles are just assinine.

Check out this article from the scientific literature:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8849790?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum