r/earwax

Also, she saying ouch because of how I was pulling her ear to be able to see. I did not touch the ear drum

I made this post a few days ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/earwax/comments/1vk198b/i_bought_an_ear_camera_and_looked_in_my_ear_for/

Decided to use some ear drops for the ear, it's just oil that is supposed to soften up the wax. Used it for 2 days, and the wax did not come out by itself, and I also tried to flush my ear in the shower with no luck. Now, 10 minutes ago, my ear started to itch like crazy and I used a q-tip just to scratch the inside of the ear. I then got some wax on it, and decided to look with the camera. The wax had loosened up!! I managed to pull it all out in one piece! I don't have anything to compare the size with, but it was not small (but not huge or big either lol).

I feel SO MUCH BETTER. I can FEEL the difference. I can HEAR the difference. And I'm very excited to see if I still will hear the sound of footsteps in snow when I go to bed in the evening. My ear feels more "open" and it's just amazing.

I wanted to share my joy. Attaching a picture of how my ear looks now (I have not cleaned the lense so the camera is a bit blurry I see now, sorry about that) and the wax. Best purchase I have made in years, so happy!

The night of 4th of July, after being around the neighbors' loud fireworks, I started having dizziness when laying down and moving around. I suspected it was ear-related, and might be due to impacted ear wax (have had enough wax buildup issues throughout the years to recognize the feeling.)

I tried to do things the "right" way, brought it up with my PCP as I had an appointment coming up, they confirmed it was impacted earwax but the nurse wasn't available to perform irrigation. The receptionist couldn't get me in to address it for a couple weeks, which was while I'd be on vacation. I tried to get into an ENT that I've used in the past, but they were 2 months out for appointments.

Since I wanted to get it addressed before vacation, I researched my options and settled on Debrox as a primary treatment and use of a Bebird to primarily monitor what's going on in there, with tool usage only when the wax was confidently safely away from my eardrum. This was about 3 weeks ago.

I didn't take regular pictures throughout but wanted to share what I do have and share the result - There is what looks like inflamation/irritation now that it's clean, I'm guessing primarily due to using Debrox.

My left ear was the worst by far, the right ear wasn't blocked up, but I did get a good chunk of hard/black wax on that side as well (last pic.) The first pic is a day or 2 into my first round of Debrox (it was a fully sealed plug when I first looked at it.) The Debrox separated the wax from the canal on one side, massively improving my hearing and dizziness issue. After another day it opened up a larger hole in the center. At this point I attempted some light usage of the otoscope tools since I could see a little past the wax, but didn't have much success and wasn't going to try too hard and risk pushing the wax deeper.

After the first 4-day round of Debrox I had a few small flakes come out with the rinse, but not much. The wax was a lot lighter at that point and clearly much softer than when it was a plug. This weekend I started another round of Debrox, and ordered a nicer irrigator for the end flush. It was supposed to show up this morning, but got delayed. I decided to give it another shot with the otoscope tools, and the 2nd round of softening made a HUGE difference. I was able to pull larger chunks out because they were finally releasing their grip on my ear canals.

The result pic speaks for itself, and I'm completely and utterly relieved to have clean ears again! I'll be sure to monitor my ears periodically to address issues before it gets as bad as this did, glad I took the jump to take care of it instead of continuing to live with it.

I went swimming in the Mediterranean recently and ever since I had clogged hearing and some pain.
Yesterday night it hurt a lot and today it all felt fine except for the fact that I can barely hear out of this ear. Can I just scoop it out?

This is my left ear- it is a much narrower ear canal than the right side (which I had a mastoidectomy on so it's quite open comparatively) so I can't figure out if this is my ear drum or wax I'm seeing.

At my last ENT appt about 6 weeks ago the doctor said he couldn't visualise the ear drum (with the otoscope) because of old wax. I've used oil drops regularly since then and this is what it looks like now. Due to the darkness I still can't figure out what it is! My other ear drum and ear canal looks so different due to surgeries I can't really compare them.

Edit to add: I have no intention of going anywhere near to it whether it be eardrum or earwax. Do not fear!

Went swimming a while back, and my ear became immediately clogged. I *hate* people touching my ears, and didn't want to deal with that as I've had some bad experiences.

Got one of these, some Debrox, and some WaxMD. It took about 2 weeks of repeated softening/flushing as the plug was rock hard and I didn't get to see it come out, but it's clear now.

I've learned my lesson on wearing ear plugs to bed.

Also, yes I got the piece of hair out. Pics of that included.

I feel like this is... A LOT.

I tried removing some of it, and I managed to get maybe 10% of it out. My ear started hurting, so I stopped. Not sure if I should contact my doctor during the week and ask for a "clean out", I might try it out myself. Do you guys think it looks like soft wax or more like a "wax plug"? Just curious, I know I'm not getting answers from medical professionals here! I have had some issues with my hearing and the sensation of there being something in my ear.

I quit using cotton sticks a few months back, just wiping out my ears every night with my pinkie finger and a paper towel. aside from the instances where maybe once every two months, i tend to cave. and go caving.

They told me not using cotton would prevent buildup. then again look where we are now. do u guys think there's something up with my ears? i have to use headphones for the majority of my day, almost every day. but they are over ear, not in. i know my ears get too warm at times which can cause excess, but it's been dark, thick, and wet / sticky for a few months now. at least whenever i'm using more than my pinkie finger. the paper towel i use at night is usually just a pale yellow stain, but every couple days i've noticed it is darker. not dark like this though. my ear does itch at times but just wiping them out quick twice a day or so seems like it does the trick.

Is my body gross and normal or gross and diseased do u figure