Have you tried Otex Express ? Don’t think you can get it in France but I bring it back when I go to the UK. It’s not oil based like most others but uses Urea Hydrogen Peroxide to dissolve hardened wax. I have persistent ear wax problems and it works brilliantly for me. It was recommended by my doctor in the UK several years ago. Once opened though you have to use it within 7 days as it becomes ineffective after exposure to the air.
I was also advised by a nurse in the UK that if you have a shower, tilt your head and let the stream of water wash into each ear for 60s first as it will soften the wax. Then use the ear drops straight after. I do use on of the bulb water jet things as well.
Not tried that but Madame is going to the UK shortly so I’ll ask her to get some. (She’s also going to Boots!)
Thanks very much.
I agree. That and opticians are a real plus about the UK. But only a small item on the positive end of the seesaw about advantages and disadvantages.
All the opticians I have had in UK have been Anglo-Asian British, and I have never quite understood why this professional is so attractive to them. And why similar does not happen here.
Squirting water round your ear is quite a good way to wind up with a damaged ear drum (though not quite as risky as a Qtip).
The right way to do it is suction and direct vision - sounds like that’s the preserve of ENT (or ORL si vous insistez ) en France.
In the US, the standard is not ‘ a cauliflower’ but ‘ your elbow’.
Or if you go into a branch of superdrug, you can buy their express ear drops (same formula) for half the price.
Pardon?
That’s what my audiologist did, with a very fine tipped suction wand thingy that had a camera on the end. Not the sort of thing your average person would have
. The bulb squirty things are OK as long as you squeeze gently and do it repeatedly. Having your ears ‘syringed’ in the UK for me was always using a pulsed jet of warm water and basically had the same effect. Irrigating your ears in the shower as I mentioned earlier is similar.
that bit is important BTW - cold water can set up fluid movement in the semicircular canals in your cochlea - unpleasant vertigo can result.
If you’re able to put your elbow in your ear I know a circus that’s recruiting performers. ![]()
(The cauliflower act might go down well too). ![]()
Granted ![]()
I still use a plastic syringe, you can’t over pressure it easily as the hole is small and with normal pressure applied it just produces a washing jet. At least I know the force being applied whereas for years you hoped the nurse did.
It’s also important to boil the water first and put it into a sealed sterile container to cool. I use a plastic screw top bottle.
My pharmacie sold us a poire which is logical given its shape.
Soften the wax by getting as much warm water in your ear as possible for as long as possible. Head down in a bath works well. Tilt head so blocked ear is pointing absolutely downward and squirt as hard as possible and watch a lump of wax up to 1 cm long pop out after a few attempts.
Avoid chemicals.
Worse case use olive oil and cotton wool for a couple of days beforehand
Is that TMI??
My former and current MT have both removed earwax for me. If they can’t do it ask for an ORL referral. I am registered with an ORL for another issue and I routinely ask for earwax removal if I am seeing him. Yes you have to wait a while for an ORL appointment but worth the wait for a thorough job and once registered you are one step ahead for a future ear, nose, throat issue. I tried the standard Cérulyse wax softening followed by using a pomme. Not ideal. If you are able to shift something, the question is, have you got it all? How do you know?
I have thin ear canals so often get bunged up, hubby tells me when my hearing is getting bad
. The first time I knew we were still in Oz and I got a lovely Pacific ocean wave directly in my ear, cue weird sounds, discomfort ect. The nurses at our doctors practice syringe cleaned it and we were all shocked by what came out ![]()
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(I’m a nurse too so we were all impressed none of us having seen the like!!). I now do it myself, warm olive oil in ear and lie down for as long as I can, then syringe with warm water. Hubby then gets his cool tiny camera light thing in to have s look and we look on the phone screen if we’ve got it all! He bought it for car repair reasons, its on s flexible tube thing but great also for kids throats and the like as well! Cleaned obviously!
Does he do colonoscopy as well ![]()
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Or suppose @toryroo s?
Sorry, even I am embarrassed by that one.
No ![]()
!