Like so many adult problems, there are multiple solutions to the issues of earwax. Having multiple solutions to a given problem is usually a good thing as there is something for everyone, but with earwax the actual problem is the argument over the effectiveness of the various solutions or even the taboo about cleaning out one’s own ears at all.

Everyone has earwax and no one likes it, with the possible exception of Shrek. There is a great debate over what to do with earwax, at least what to do with it while it is still in your ear. There is probably not much debate about what to do with it after you get it out of your ear. Don’t wanna think about options for that.

Earwax was not a problem when you were young. Your mother poked your ears with a cotton swab, washed them out with a washrag and a pointy finger nail, or simply ignored it. But now as an adult, you are faced with dealing with your own earwax. There are many ways to remove ear wax, which is technically called cerumen. Some methods include cotton swabs, ear candling, paper clips, pencils, toothpicks, ear drops and doctors. Only the last two methods are recommended. (See link below to article from Harvard Medical School).

A gambler would bet that 97% of adults have poked an ear swab (let’s just call a Q-tip a Q-tip, okay) or a toothpick or a pencil or a stick in their ear at one time or another to relieve an itch inside their ear or as a part of their grooming ritual. Never mind that your doctor and your mother told you never to do that. The other 3% of adults probably don’t have ears.

Of the recommendations from Harvard for treating ear wax issues, only one is typically affordable: ear drops. However, if you have ever used ear drops for grooming or medication, then you know they don’t feel particularly good and take a lot longer to work than they should. Ear drops tickle at best and cause extreme itching at worst. It takes a lot longer to get the ear drops out of one’s ear than it takes to put them in. Finally, you might wind up with that annoying sensation of water in your ear as if you had been swimming all day.

Maybe it is worth going to the doctor to get rid of earwax? At least, he could anesthetize you so you would not have any of those horrible water-in-the-ear issues and they could patch up the holes in your eardrum from those toothpicks and pencils.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/got-an-ear-full

photo credit: stemd.net