Earwax probably isn’t something you’ve given much thought to, but it’s actually a very important part of your ear health. Find everything you never thought you needed to know about earwax here.
What is earwax?
Essentially, earwax is an efficient self-cleaning service for your ears, and helps to protect the sensitive ear canal from things like bacteria and debris that can cause infections.
Produced naturally by glands in the ear canal, you’ll recognise earwax as any colour from yellow, to bright orange, to dark brown. Your body will normally produce enough earwax to maintain health on its own, but sometimes this wax can become hard and impacted, which can lead to problems like hearing loss, or discomfort.
What is the main cause of earwax?
Most of us are familiar with earwax, and probably never think too much of it. But why do we have earwax in the first place? Well, earwax is a good thing to have in your ears as it’s beneficial for the protection of your ears and your ear health. That’s why your body naturally produces it.
Anti-bacterial
Its sticky texture prevents bacteria and germs from moving further into the ear, where they can cause infections.
Maintains pH
Earwax lubricates the skin and helps to maintain the ear’s natural pH balance, which prevents irritation and dryness, as well as preserving overall ear health. Its slightly acidic pH is hostile to bacteria, stopping growth and possible infection.
In-built cleaning service
Eventually, the earwax containing any trapped dirt or bacteria will simply fall out without you noticing, cleaning as it goes.
Keeps out unwelcome guests
Earwax is also a natural insect repellent – so if you’ve ever felt a tickling sensation in your ear, you don’t need to worry about anything creepy nor crawly
Why are we so earwax obsessed? Could it be that the nation's ears are getting waxier? Find out more in our latest hindsight report: An ear in review
Problems caused by earwax
Earwax is produced naturally by glands in the ear canal, and usually the body knows the right level of earwax to produce to protect the ear and not cause any problems. Sometimes though, earwax production might fall out of kilter, and your body might produce more earwax than it needs, or it becomes drier or stickier than normal.
This can happen for a variety of reasons, like excessive headphone use, having narrow ear canals or as a result of certain skin conditions or ear infections.
What are the symptoms of earwax build-up?
An earwax build-up can cause:
- Itchy ears
- Discomfort, or earache
- Tinnitus
- Hearing loss
- Infections
And for hearing aid wearers it can cause:
- Damage or a need for frequent cleaning of the hearing aid
- Discomfort or poor fitting of a hearing aid and its day-to-day wearing
- Hearing aids to make a whistling noise
Earwax and hearing tests
How do you stop earwax build-up?
Since your body creates earwax naturally, there is nothing you can really do to reduce the amount of earwax your glands produce. However, there are safe methods of ear cleaning or earwax removal that can help manage excessive earwax. Though it’s important to seek specialist advice, rather than attempt methods you see online without any guidance, such as ear candling.
A build-up of wax in the ears can make it difficult to perform a full hearing test. It can produce inaccurate test results and obstructs the view to the eardrum in order for your hearing care professional to accurately assess your hearing. It also creates issues when you need to have an ear mould impression taken or have hearing aids fitted.
To help with this, an audiologist might suggest that you use drops before your appointment to soften the wax and allow it to fall out of the ear naturally
It's important that the wax is soft to make the procedure as comfortable and effective as possible. We recommend using medicated oil drops, or a spray such as Earol, once per day in the affected ear and repeat for 5 days.
What does the colour of your earwax mean?
How should you clean your ears safely?
Your ears are designed to be self-cleaning and will normally produce enough earwax to prevent problems occurring, and make its way out of the ear, completely on its own.
Many people use cotton buds in an effort to ‘clean’ their ears from excess wax, but you’re actually more likely to cause earwax blockage and further issues. Rather than removing the earwax, it instead pushes it further into the ear, which leads to a build-up, or impacted wax.
If not removed, impacted earwax can lead to infection, which will need to be treated by a doctor.
How to remove earwax
Traditionally, medical professionals would use methods such as ear syringing, or candling to remove an earwax build-up. We avoid these methods as they can cause additional complications to your ear health, such as infections, tinnitus, and damage to the eardrum.
Microsuction
Ear microsuction is the quickest and safest method of earwax removal, including hard or impacted wax. The process is much more comfortable as it avoids touching the sensitive skin of the ear canal, and has no contact with the eardrum.
The medical suction device will quickly and carefully remove the earwax, whilst constantly maintaining vision of the ear canal using a microscope. So we’ll be able to ensure wax removal
quickly, comfortably, and with minimal risk of further complications.
Manual removal
This method of earwax removal is performed with the use of tiny specialist tools to gently tease out the wax from the ear canal.
This would usually be used in minor cases, with soft wax. For cases of impacted or hard wax, the wax would require softening over a few days with drops beforehand.
Experiencing earwax build-up symptoms?
If you’re struggling with earwax build-up, see a professional to get your earwax removed safely.
Ear candling
Does ear candling work?
Impacted earwax
Causes, symptoms and treatment
Advice on ear cleaning
Tips on how to clean your ears safely