Do you all ever get your ears cleaned? (kinda gross) (1 Viewer)

[Eric D Wong]

...ok this is kinda nasty so stop reading now if you dont want to hear about ear wax. Ok so tonite I was working underneath my car when I rolled over and then I heard this loud noise, im like what in the hell I thought something might have dropped in my ear. Then i shook my head around and there was definately something loose in my ear. So I got up, went to the bedroom and started headbanging on the pillow sideways. (gross part) I was expecting to see some dirt or somethin but low and behold it looked like ear wax. Nasty. Real nasty. It was a good size too, I was wondering how much sound it was absorbing while in my ear. sheesh. I wonder if theres anything in the other ear as well. Good lord, for us who love sound and music I would think build up in the ear would be quite a sound blocker.

 

[Clinton McClure]

A physician can professionally clean your ears using a jet of warm water. I had it done once when I had an ear infection when I was younger. All kinds of earwax came out and my hearing improved a bit.

 

[Jeff Pryor]

Working in a warehouse, keeping my ears clean is essential, there's so much dust in the environment. In the past, I've once had a nurse clean mine with the Jet Pick, I think it was called. It's a water pressure tooth pick. It seems that every time I even use the rubber squeezer that comes with the wax removal gel, I get really dizzy afterwards and have to lay down and wait for the spell to pass.

 

[Danny Tse]

At most drug stores, you can buy a ear-cleaning kit. I used to have do this for my dad. He would put his head on a flat surface sideways, the I put drops of "ear cleaning liquid" into his ear with the included dropper. And like some weird form of chemical experiment, his ear fizzles. Serious. After I let the liquid soften up whatever earwax he had, he would turn his head upright and the chemical inside his ear would come out into the plastic container that collects this stuff. I would then use the plastic bulb that was included in the kit to flush out his earwith water. Quite gross.

 

[Scott L]

^^^What I use when I have build up. Kind of a hereditary thing with my family, all the sons have it. You can either take all the time, money, and trouble it takes to see your physician or buy that $8 kit at CVS and do it yourself.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Danny, I'm surprised you and your dad haven't got more of the typical Chinese "instruments" for cleaning out ears. Heck, the "old-fashioned" Chinese barber shops here even have an ear-cleaning service as part of the services available (dying trade, though). Or you can buy your own "ear pick"... I have one, must admit it's one of my bad habits...

(Wasn't there an old thread in After Hours about the difference in ear wax in Asians and Caucasians? Anyway, I think I've said enough on the topic. Better stop grossing everyone out. )

 

[Francois Caron]

Makes prefect sense. Your inner ear also contains the vestibular system which basically consists of three loops that help you maintain your balance. Start whacking at it, and you become dizzy.

 

[LewB]

Buddy Hackett had a story he told in his show that started out with an intricate description of an oriental form of relaxation where the gentleman was bathed and ministered to by a Geisha. Part of the process was to tie the gentleman's manhood to a 'board' designed to this process using daintly little thongs. The lead-up took 10 minutes. The punch line was that the Geisha finally took the gentleman and placed his tied up manhood on a table, then suddenly smashed it with something thereby causing the wax to shoot out of his ears. 'Wax job' !

wanna make your home theatre sound better, invest in a trip to the doc and get a hearing check and have your ears cleaned out, not necessarily by a geisha

 

[Mark Shannon]

I have to do this usually once every couple of years (yeah, that far apart). Apparently one of my ear canals is a bit too small, and when enough wax gets in there, I get severe ear aches. I had it flushed with one of those water jets, and a clump of wax the size of a small marble came out. Quite gross.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i have a wax problem in my right ear, every now and then it will completely block up and cut off most of my hearing. i really should get them both cleaned. i read in a medical journal that you can use half warm water and half hydrogen peroxide and a little ear rubber squeezer thing. i tried it using more and less concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, and it works pretty well. as soon as you use it, it instantly starts a reaction in your ear, fizzes right away. i really should get it professionally done though.

CJ

 

[Seth_L]

What's wrong with cutips?

 

[Jeff Pryor]

Cutips really just push the wax back into the ear canal. For really bad wax buildup, they just won't do the job sufficiently.

 

[Grant B]

In college many years ago, I did just that. I pushed a big old wax ball up against my ear drum. Besides sounding like I was underwater, I could barely stand since I was so dizzy.
For the ear waxing kits I find it is easy to do it in the bathtube after using the 'loosening' liquid.
Too much of a klutz to not get the water all over and too gross to ask anyone to do it for me.
This might be the cheapest HT 'fix' there is.
If your hearing sucks, no matter how much you spend - it wont get any better

 

[Kevin Hewell]

My mom used to say, "never put anything in your ear larger than your elbow." Good advice.

 

[Chazz_S]

So the 'cleaning kits' found in pharmacy's really do the job well? I never thought they would do the trick since I figured earwax would be just so 'stubborn'.

 

[Philip_G]

You can also buy those candle things that you stick in your ear, the process is called coning, I've heard it works, contrary to what this link says.
http://skepdic.com/coning.html

another one that says it doesn't work

http://www.quackwatch.org/01Quackery.../candling.html


we should start up an AHL experiement

 

[DanaA]

Timely thread.

I just completed the four day process using the solution/rinse bulb package you find in pharmacies. Have to say, it worked very nicely. Actually enjoyed the fizzling sensation as the solution did its job.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

I'm pretty sure most of the ear cleaning kits are really just a hyrdrogen peroxide solution. I've used them a few times, but it's kind of a pain to do to yourself and I never seem to get that great of an effect out of it. I asked my doctor to do it once, but he kind of brushed it off and told me to try those. Perhaps he thought his method was more invasive than necessary in my case.

I've heard of the ear cone thing, I think my friend referred to it as an ear wick and said it pulled lots of crap out of his ears. I'd like to give that a try and see what it's like.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Only once have I had a doctor do the water-jet thing--two marble sized blobs came out. Since then I have not been able to persuade one to do it, must be afraid of some kind of liability issue.

When mine clog up I use the rubber ear bulb thingy and squirt a 50/50 mix of Hydrogen Peroxide and Isopropyl Alcohol into the ear with my head tilted so it can't run out. Wait for the fizzing to stop and repeat every hour or so until they finally unclog. Usually have some soreness from the alcohol but at least I can hear again.

 

[Richard Travale]

I think the saying is " Don't put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear".

I once got a gift card from a friend for a free ear coning to be done by her. I was too freaked out at the thought of her stuffing some burning candle into my ear that I never took her up on the offer.