Wax is normal – it provides protection for your ears. Your ears are self-cleaning, wax usually falls out on its own.
If you know you have an ear wax problem causing deafness and that your ear is otherwise healthy you can start ear drops yourself. Place 1-2 drops of olive oil (it is advisable to buy a bottle of olive oil and ‘dropper’ from your local pharmacist) into your ear daily for 3 weeks.
• Do not place cotton wool in the ear as it only soaks up the oil
• The olive oil softens the wax which will run out of it’s own accord
• You may not necessarily see wax come out as it usually comes out unnoticed
If, after 3 weeks you are still deaf make an appointment with our nurse to decide the next steps
If your hearing is impaired, you have discharge and /or pain and you don’t know why, you should initially see our Nurse Practitioner. If it is wax causing the problem, we will advise the above 3 week regime.
If you have repeated problems with wax blocking your ears it may be beneficial to use 1-2 drops of olive oil each week which may prevent this.
You may not want to wait this long? There are several providers of a private micro-suction service in Exeter. Prices range from £55:
• Audify, Exeter
• Ear Matters, Exeter
• Hidden Hearing, Exeter
• Imperial Hearing, Exeter
• Nuffield Health, Taunton
• South West Ear Clinics, Exeter
• Specsavers, Exeter
This will only be advised as a last resort, please speak to the nurse about this.
Irrigation will not be performed when the patient:
• Has a perforation or there is a history of mucous discharge in the last year
• Has had a history of middle ear infection in the last 6 weeks
• Has had an untoward experience following this procedure in the past;
• Has had previous ear surgery of any kind; e.g. mastoidectomy (apart from grommets that have extruded at least 18months previously and the patient has been discharged from the ENT dept)
• Has grommets in place (if over 18m old and discharged from ENT clinic then may proceed)
• Has evidence of otitis externa
• The patient has a cleft palate (repaired or not)
• Has not been using olive oil drops for the last 3 weeks
