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I had the same situation - blocked ear, NHS doctor said they don’t usually do anything about it due to the risk of ear damage in the process. The drops did not

I had the same situation - blocked ear, NHS doctor said they don’t usually do anything about it due to the risk of ear damage in the process. The drops did nothing, but I ended up using one of the bulb syringes you can buy to blast it with water and it did the trick perfectly, lots of gross wax came out and I’ve had no issues since (previously they’d reoccur every now and then). Was really weird after I’d done it, everything sounded really “HD” for a while! (I remember I took advantage and went record shopping, lol) This YouTube clip showed me how to use it properly: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sAHx0B7icmI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sAHx0B7icmI I’m no doctor so please don’t consider this medical advice and do check with yours before trying this!

RobertKerans 5y ago
Doctors IME will always advise not to do it, but also IME it works far better than anything else. I've always had blocked ears, and my grandfather had been an NHS doctor back when this was standard (before the advice not to do it came down), so he was the one who showed me how to do it -- very, very gently and repeatedly, with slightly warm water, don't need to push the point of the bulb/syringe in. And the wax just drops out after a few applications (in big gross lumps if it's bad!). Absolutely not medical advice, but just to confirm that it works extremely well.
- tomduncalf 5y ago
  > (in big gross lumps if it's bad!). Can confirm, ha
qart 5y ago
I have had to go to a doctor only once because of impacted wax. He did pretty much the same thing. He used a massive copper syringe for the task. The only thing he did differently than the video was using cotton swabs to immediately dry the ear canal. It was painful, but he said leaving the region wet can lead to infections. I don't trust untrained people to use swabs in the sensitive regions of the canal. Anyway, for home cleaning, 3% H2O2 or baby oil have been working well enough ever since.

RobertKerans 5y ago

Doctors IME will always advise not to do it, but also IME it works far better than anything else. I've always had blocked ears, and my grandfather had been an NHS doctor back when this was standard (before the advice not to do it came down), so he was the one who showed me how to do it -- very, very gently and repeatedly, with slightly warm water, don't need to push the point of the bulb/syringe in. And the wax just drops out after a few applications (in big gross lumps if it's bad!). Absolutely not medical advice, but just to confirm that it works extremely well.

tomduncalf 5y ago
> (in big gross lumps if it's bad!). Can confirm, ha

qart 5y ago

I have had to go to a doctor only once because of impacted wax. He did pretty much the same thing. He used a massive copper syringe for the task. The only thing he did differently than the video was using cotton swabs to immediately dry the ear canal. It was painful, but he said leaving the region wet can lead to infections. I don't trust untrained people to use swabs in the sensitive regions of the canal. Anyway, for home cleaning, 3% H2O2 or baby oil have been working well enough ever since.