Ear Wax is a natural protective anti-bacterial and lubricating body fluid produced by the glands in the ear canal. Most of this natural ear wax is slowly excreted along with dead skin cells from the inner ear canal where it is produced and lived its useful life to the outer canal.
There normally is no need to remove ear wax. It automatically gets out of the ears. Yet many people have a routine of cleaning their ears with q-tips or other external objects once a week or whenever they feel heavy on the ear.
This practice of ear wax removal at home causes the naturally flowing out ear wax to get back deep inside the ear. Though you might see traces of ear wax on your q-tip and feel happy without realizing that the same q-tip which could get some ear wax out has pushed the rest of it even deeper inside the ear canal.
So don't fiddle with your ears if all is well. You may feel fullness, ringing and other noises in the ears, itching, temporary hearing loss or just simple uncomfortable sensation.
Some kind of infection or deformity in the skin, tissues or bone around the ear may be causing the ear wax buildup or blockage. Visit your doctor.
If you get a clean chit from your doctor, who may have removed some of the wax through his/her own ear wax removal tools and prescribed you with some medicines., but you are still getting the discomfort, then some of the following home remedies will help you to remove ear wax. Keep your doctor informed and do it under supervision.
For using all the following remedies make sure that you have no ear infection. The ear wax build up is actually protecting your ears from the infection. Removing ear wax will be counterproductive and your ear drum may get perforated.
Also if you are regularly getting getting into ear wax problems and these remedies never ever worked well, then you should not try them. They might have worked well on other people but they don't suit you. Protecting the eardrum is more important than getting rid of the irritation due to ear wax buildup.
All the following remedies can be classified as ear canal irrigation, the only difference is that we will be using different liquids to irrigate.
Unlike use of external solid objects such as Q-tips or bobby pins which pushes part of the ear wax further deep inside the ear, liquids loosen the impacted ear wax which can be then removed by simply tilting the head on sides.
You can do it yourself but taking help for someone else to put the liquid in your ears will be easier.
1. Hydrogen Peroxide
You will need Hydrogen Peroxide (3%) and water. Lower concentration of hydrogen peroxide will also suffice, but don't take higher percentage concentration.
Use a dropper to mix water and hydrogen peroxide in equal quantities. Suck a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in the dropper and drain it on a teaspoon. Then take the same number of drops of warm water in the dropper and drain it in the same teaspoon. Mix it well and fill the dropper with the solution.
You can do it yourself in a sitting position.Tilt your head on one side keeping the direction of the affected ear facing skywards. Add a couple of drops in the ear. Cover the ear with palm of your hand. You can move your palm up and down to give motion to the drops of hydrogen peroxide drops inside the ear.
Keep it for 5 minutes and tilt the head on the opposite side to drain the solution. With a couple of applications in the next few days, you should have removed the impacted ear wax.
2. Baby Oil or Glycerine
Fill a couple of drops of warm baby oil or glycerine by the dropper in the same way as above and follow all steps.
Draining of baby oil will require extra steps. You can flush it out with saline solution. Saline solution on its own is also a good ear wax remover. The steps are given below and choice is yours to use it after baby oil or Glycerine or just use the saline solution on its own.
3. Warm Sea Salt Water
Mix 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt in a cup filled with warm water at 1/4 level. Stir it well to ensure the salt is dissolved completely in the water. Though, we have prepared a 1/4 cup of saline solution we are going to use only a couple of drops. The purpose of making large quantity is to have the right concentration of salt in the water.
Lie down on bed turning your body and face sideways, and the affected ear facing the ceiling . If you have a dropper, then ask some to drop a couple of drops in the affected ear. Let the warm saline solution to loosen the impacted wax. Lie down in the same position for around 15 minutes. Then get up tilt the face on the other side to let the liquid drain from the ear.
You may require to do it 2 times for a couple of days or more to loosen up the ear wax.
4. Baking Soda
Baking Soda dissolved in warm water is a good ear wax removal solution. Once again like the sea salt, add baking soda to warm water. A ratio of 1 part of baking soda to 10 parts of warm water. Mix it well. We are going to use 2-5 drops only so prepare less quantity.
For Application of the baking soda solution, use the same steps as mentioned in the case of sea salt solution above.
5. Plant Based Oils
Many plant based oils such as Castor Oil and Olive Oil are also used to clear the ear wax. The procedure is the same as for baby oil or glycerine as explained above.
There are many other methods of removing ear wax, some of them are very unconventional and may be harmful. There are both sides of arguments for controversial methods such as use of ear wax removal candles.
It is better to be safe than sorry, so use your discretion to select a home remedy that your doctor may also approve to remove wax from your ears.