ear wax removal drops

[johnjohn320]

Ok, so it's kind of a silly question. I'm one of those folks that gets heavy wax buildup in the inner ear canal, despite diligent cleaning, etc. Doc said I should use ear wax removal drops, like the kind you get at CVS. I used them, and cant tell any difference. So, I ask here: The instructions are surprisingly vague: It says place 4-5 drops in the ear, and that's pretty much it. Should I put the drops in, rinse them out and then qtip my ears? Or should I leave the drops in, qtip it out, and THEN rinse?

Thanks for answering my gross question.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Place the drops in and that's it. The drops dissolve the wax. Rinsing them out would defeat the purpose of the drops.

 

[xanis]

First of all, straight hydrogen peroxide works MUCH better than any of those special ear drops that I've used. What works best is to put the drops in, let them sit in there for about 10-15 minutes, then rinse out some lukewarm water. Get a syringe of some sort to get some water pressure.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Xanis
First of all, straight hydrogen peroxide works MUCH better than any of those special ear drops that I've used. What works best is to put the drops in, let them sit in there for about 10-15 minutes, then rinse out some lukewarm water. Get a syringe of some sort to get some water pressure.

+1, my doctor told me to use peroxide since it's cheaper and works better.

 

[Akhen]

I recommend Hydrogen Peroxide as well for the same above reasons.

 

[Mojoed]

Standard brown-bottle H2O2 undiluted?

 

[FoBoT]

you have to repeat several times and flush with hydrogen peroxide and alcohol and warm water
it might take .5 hour of doing this cycle to get the large raisin sized chunks of wax out

 

[Alistar7]

Ear wax candle FTW:

http://www.candle.com/item/ear-wax-candle

 

[XMan]

I can't stand the peroxide in there . . . the bubbling drives me crazy. That said the earwax drops don't really seem to do anything.

I've heard that the treatment you can get at the doctor is awesome, but generally I just wait for stuff to fall out on it own.

 

[0roo0roo]

i think ear wax candles are bunk

 

[0roo0roo]

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_098.html

 

[Alistar7]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
i think ear wax candles are bunk

I never knew about them until I encountered a coworker using them. It brought out substantial amounts of wax, although in theory the majority of the now softened material escapes naturally within a few days. Both of the candles she used were caked with wax, each side enough to make golf ball size chunk o wax.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

i just got back from bahamas where i was having some big troubles with my left ear. felt fine while diving, but out of the water i just couldnt get the ear to dry out. totally blocked with wax i thought. i asked the dive guys, they use mineral oil. a couple drops every day keeps the wax soft and easy to flush out. i have been applying the oil the past few days. just a few minutes ago i went at it with one of these - http://pics.drugstore.com/prodimg/77706/300.jpg and flushed out the most disgusting/foul smelling concoction of crap ive ever seen.