Ear cleaning

aarpio

I usually rinse my ears with water when I am taking a bath and that's it. I don't like using cotton buds.

fun17

Not often enough :laugh: Ear wax is there for a reason, so as long as it's not too obvious (so that someone can spot it easily) I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Ear wax is there for a reason.. ;D

gayfotoman

I put a capful of hydrogen peroxide in my ear about once a month. I put my the left side of my face down on a table with a towel. I put it in my right ear. Wait about 5 minutes and turn your head over on the towel and watch the crud drip out. I repeat it on the other side. Don't do this too often as is can dry out your ears and you don't want to end up with a more serious issue.

renogouldfan

Dont do it.

I used to be addicted to the feeling of shoving a cotton tip into my ear. I would go through a 200 pack of qtips a month! Until the day I messed up and injured my eardrum. I ended up getting a huge infection and it ended up costing me over 500 dollars in medical bills, WITH INSURANCE!!!

I even bought a camera to look in my ear and pick out the wax. I loved the feeling of cleaning them out, but the ear doc said the wax keeps the canal moist and from drying out.

I still occasionally catch myself cleaning them out though.

erich214

I'm lucky with dry ear wax. I typically clean my ear with a stainless steel ear pick instead of a q-tip.

simon92

a couple of times a week

Nbasder9

Almost every day, sometimes I skip a day.

andergarcia

Everyday: what I do is to rinse my ears with water when I am taking a shower. I don't use anything else (cotton buds or things like that: my doctor told me that they are not good for your ears).

fun17

@andergarcia:

Everyday: what I do is to rinse my ears with water when I am taking a shower. I don't use anything else (cotton buds or things like that: my doctor told me that they are not good for your ears).

:love:

flozen

I can't resist using one cotton swab for each ear about twice a week after a shower, despite most of the medical sites I Googled recommending to let it be unless you have a (rather rare) blockage.

Be sure to not push any wax inward with your swab – dab gently in an outward motion.

Yes, earwax apparently performs a moisturizing function, but I find it unappealing and am willing to risk my dear life to be gone with it.

thc74

@flozen:

Yes, earwax apparently performs a moisturizing function, but I find it unappealing and am willing to risk my dear life to be gone with it.

Earwax also contains antimicrobials. They are there to protect the ear from infection.

Nobody should be putting anything in their ears that does not belong there. ;D

Grotomode

I used to almost after every shower, but after I recently had a couple of pretty bad ear infections I started to think about what doctors say, which is to not do it.

So now I just try to gently pour warm water inside as much as I can when I shower and then just dry out the external surface.

A Former User

Never use q tips I use a baby syringe full of warm water to blow out the wax! If you use a qtip it pushes the wax deeper into you ear canal!

fun17

@duke4172:

Never use q tips I use a baby syringe full of warm water to blow out the wax! If you use a qtip it pushes the wax deeper into you ear canal!

Sounds easy and working.. :love:

Apothos

One of my ear drums had to be pierced, because of fluid build up inside when I was a kid. Doctor told me to not get water in that ear, to help prevent it from getting an infection.

ColinTNM

Please be careful putting any kind of liquid in your ears if you have any ear issues such as tinnitus, perforated ear drums etc. The warnings on the labels of ear drops and peroxide type products SPECFICALLY WARN about this.

I know in recent years there has been a move away from using cotton buds, including changing their name on packaging (they were once widely labelled 'ear buds') - but they would be much safer to use than ear drops in this case. As long as you are sensible and don't try to push them in too far.