Ear Wax!!! - Lima,OH

My husband (and son) have a ton of earwax. In DH's case he uses debrox every so often - this is a solution you put in the ears to break up earwax. He has to do it because the earwax affects his hearing. I have not done it to my son yet since he has not experienced the hearing problem.

Debrox is the way to go. Just follow the directions.

My middle girl has tons of wax and we do this every once in awhile. Her wax situation has gotten better as she's gotten older.

Good luck!

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Yes.
I know, it's a little gross, huh?

Does your son have any allergies? I only ask because I have two kids. One with allergies and one without. Guess which one produces copious amounts of ear wax? And when his allergies flare up (allergic rhinitis--seasonal allergies to pollens/mold, etc) his ear wax production seems to ramp up, too. When his allergies are clear, his ears produce no more wax than any of the rest of us do.

My husband also seems to be a heavier than average ear wax producer, and he has some allergies (milder than our sons, but to cats, not pollen). I have none, and no wax issues. Daughter has none and no wax issues.

So I am curious whenever anyone brings it up. I have never thought about it while at the doctor's office, to ask if it is associated with allergies or not. But I find it an interesting correlation with my son.
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Ditto on the stay away from ear candles. They are dangerous. Not just to your ears/hearing, but you could set your house on fire with those things. Seriously. They also don't do anything whatsoever for your ears.
Think about it--- does this sound like a good idea? Let's stick something long, made of paper and wax, into my ear, where I can't see it, and then light it on fire! Great idea!! (not)

It's normal.
I had one boy with crazy earwax, the other didnt have much.
Keep on top of it, just remember DO NOT USE A Q-TIP and shove it further in. The ear is a machine that pushes the wax out, just clean it up so it's not an eye sore to others. It's kind of unfortunate that a normal fluid like earwax (that keeps dust and toxins at bay) is something we arent supposed to "look at". Our vain society messes us up.

Yes, that big chunk was ear wax. The doctor pulled one out of mine that looked like a large raisin. I used to joke that my son had potatoes growing in his ears.

Here's what I want to tell you. It's important to get enough wax out that it doesn't push against the eardrum or affect hearing. Some wax is good because it protects the ear canal. BUT, it is SO important to not use a Q-tip to try to clean out the ear. I made the mistake of doing it years ago, and all of a sudden I couldn't hear. My ear hurt SO badly that it made my stomach ill. I went to the ENT who cleaned out my ear and gave me antibiotic ear drops (the Q-tip had caused the wax to scratch my ear canal), but it wasn't enough. I still couldn't hear and my ear hurt all of the time. I went to a different ENT and she found wax tucked up underneath my eardrum. That had to be removed. It took 2 months for me to get back to normal with this.

They really mean it when they say "Don't put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear". I'm living proof of it, and I would hate for you to put a Q-tip in your son's ear to get the wax out, and it happen to him too.

There is a product at the drug store called "Debrox" that you can put in his ear and it will soften the wax. It's easier for it to work its way out if it is soft. You can also use it for 2 weeks, then go to the doctor and get THEM to clean out his ears. They have the right instruments to properly remove the wax. I used to do this once a year for myself and twice a year for my kids ( using the Debrox and then having the doctor finish the job.) Thankfully, now our ears don't make too much wax.

Hope this helps,
Dawn

Ever since my kids were born, I never cleaned their ears. Their inner ears, and not much of their outer ears. Our Pediatrician, said there is no need to.
Now... my son, has TONS of ear wax. Inside. Each time we go to the Doctor, the Pediatrician takes it out... my son has to be SUPER still, the Doc uses Doc type tweezers, and he pulls it all out. It never impedes my son's hearing nor health. He is just a boy who makes a lot of ear wax. And he has NEVER had, ear issues and never has had any ear infections of any sort. He is 6 now. His ears are fine.

Again, per our Pediatrician, there is no need to clean an ear. It is self-cleaning.

Our Doc says, you should never do this yourself. You can puncture their ear drum. I have never cleaned my kids' ears. And it is clean. They never have gross dirty looking ears. At all.
You should take your son to the Pediatrician, if you want all that taken out.

Yep - that was ear wax.
Some people just generate a lot more wax than other people and if you don't clean it out yourself you'll end up going to the doctors office frequently so they can do it - which is expensive.

Ear candles have been proven ineffective and they are extremely dangerous.
If you think it's hard to get chunks of normal ear wax out of an ear, candle wax is much worse.
The melted candle wax can burn your ear drum and ear canal and then when it hardens - candle wax is rock hard at body temperature - you've got BIG problems to get it out again.
Some people have had to have it surgically removed.

Get an otoscope so you can have a good look inside his ears.
In each ear look up, down and all around.
People like to imagine the ear canal is a straight tunnel but it's more like a cave - it has lot's of nooks and crannies.
In all these little corners the wax can build up and form chunks that oxidize and harden.
If these chunks get pushed back up against the ear drum it's hard to get out.
So using a Q-tip at that point causes more problems than it resolves.

For the current state of your son's ears, I'd use warm (not hot) water with little peroxide in it (It's what the doctor's office uses to clean ears).
You can get a water bottle to gently squirt the water into his ears and much wax will come out.
When it looks pretty clean (check often with the otoscope), then gently use a Q-tip to dry the ears out.
If you clean his ears every few weeks, the waxy chunks won't have a chance to build up.
I have a syringe I've used for years but my hands are small and it's hard for me to use.
I recently found this water bottle system and it's wonderful and easy to use.

http://www.amazon.com/Generation-Slimline-Stainless-Otosc...

http://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Washer-Bottle-Doctor-Easy/...

Like Grandma T said don't use a Q tip to get it out or you'll pack it in tighter. It can affect hearing in kids with this problem. I do think allergies have something to do with producing more wax in the ears. One of our sons had a sound proof ear test done at a big hospital here in our state and had hearing loss and they got so much wax out of his ears that was causing the hearing loss. We were told to clean the ears with nothing smaller than your finger and a wash cloth however they used special instruments at the hospital. Don't get soap in the ears when bathing or showering either. Only water unless of course it just got in from shampoo or something, don't use it on the wash cloth in the ear.

I've read that the ear wax we produce is genetic and goes back to our early ancestors. The volume was a survival mechanism of sorts.

Both of my daughters have a different degree of normal from one another.

My one daughter read in her Kids National Geographic that when we are under stress we produce more ear wax. It has become a running joke with us when she has an excessive amount.

I have had impacted ear wax a couple of times, bad enough to go to the doctor's office for them to have to flush it out. You'd be surprised how big the ear canal is. When they got done, most of the stuff that came out was a dark brownish orange color. Gross for sure! I have to keep an eye on my son's ears because he seems to always have a lot of wax, but never wants me to clean them. He won't mess with his ears either, so I kind of have to force him to let me clean them out.

I've used ear wax candles with slight success. You have to soften the wax in your ears for the candle to get any out. I used hydrogen peroxide and the candle got some of the surface wax out, but mine was so impacted, there's no way the candles would have worked to get all of it. It's safe if you use them correctly. Not something to do on yourself by yourself for sure.

Yes, dried ear wax is brown!! And it's amazing how much of it there can be! Maybe he should see an ENT (ear/nose/and throat doc) to get some drops so that the wax doesn't build up so much. He probably hears a lot better without it!

Debrox is great and we use that for my oldest daughter who gets a ton of ear wax.

Now my youngest has tubes in her ears and she gets ear was that gets hard, and we cannot use Debrox on her, but we use baby oil. I would not recommend using this without a Dr giving direction though. Her ENT instructed me on how to do it and how much, so it is not just about putting oil in the ear, you do need to be careful. The oil dissolves the wax so she does not get build up.

http://www.entnet.org/HealthInformation/earwax.cfm

That is some solid info on ear wax, maybe it will help. My M. used to use ear wax candles on me sometimes when I was younger - they looked like honeycomb candles. I was young and I not recall why or how but you might want to look into that if it is really excessive.

I have to clean my ears every day.

I have oily skin (great for deserts), super thick shiny hair (another sebatious gland quirk... Moisturizing my hair below the scalp), wet ets & other mucosal membranes... And waxy ears.

Some women exude confidence, personality, whatever. I just exude

Its about 4 q-tips a day, unless Im sick, and then its 8.

If I don't clean daily, in about a week the canal is blocked, and in 2 its impacted.

My son needs his ears cleaned every other day. Or the same result in slightly longer time.

I can't imagine not using Q-tips.
I brought it up with my Ped when I first heard that and he laughed

"Yeah... I have to tell my patients theyre 'Not smart enough to operate a q-tip' is what I have to say legally, or the clinic will get sued. You're fine. He's fine. Don't sweat it."

I am 33 years old and the more I clean my ears, the more infections I get. One time about a year ago...been a while....I had just got my nails done. They were long. It was a Saturday morning and I woke up to my ear itching so bad. I stuck that long pinky nail in there and scratched and out came this humungous piece of wax. It was about the size of a kidney bean. Very disgusting. I say just leave it alone. If it doesn't hurt, it's probably just there to protect the inside of his ears.