Help! My ears feel full and I want to clean them myself, but ……
DO NOT PUT ANYTHING SMALLER THAN YOUR ELBOW IN YOUR EARS! Many people want to use q-tips or bobby pins to clean their ears when they feel full. Using a q-tip or anything like that can actually make the fullness worse, if the fullness is indeed due to ear wax impaction. Ear wax is a good thing for our ears. It is the body’s natural way of protecting the ears and keeping them clean. Some people produce more ear wax than others and need to have their ears cleaned by a medical professional on a regular basis. Those patients who try to clean their ears on their own can actually cause the problem to get worse by pushing the ear wax deeper into the ear or even possibly by damaging the ear drum, both of which can and will affect hearing. Patients have been known to get pieces of a q-tip or other foreign object stuck in their ear and have to see a physician to have that removed.
How do I clean my ears if I can’t use a q-tip? It’s best to have a qualified medical professional clean your ears. This is the safest way. If you must do it yourself, just a simple wash rag will do the trick. However, if you are a patient who produces excessive ear wax, it is still best to let the professionals do it.