What Is Earwax?
Earwax also know as cerumen is produced in the outer 1/3 of the ear canal, which exerts waste out. Normally the ear is designed to remove Wax naturally. Chewing and jaw movements, move the ear canal and as new skin grows inside the canal and helps push the wax out.
The amount of earwax you produce varies from person to to person. Genetics has a role to play, like eye and hair colour. Some people have smaller canals or different shape, making it difficult for the wax to naturally migrate out. Also people who use hearing aids or earplugs, tend to have a build up as your pushing the wax in, and leads to an accumulation. Conditions such as eczema and psoriasis that produce a lot of dry skin can result in hard earwax. And with age, glandular secretions change consistently.
Symptoms
An earwax blockage can cause serious problems if left untreated and can affect your hearing, cause infection, tinnitus a feeling of fullness or congestion. In some cases pain, vertigo, itchiness in the ear. Earwax can cause a cough, by stimulating the branch of the vagus nerve that supplies the outer ear.
Earwax blockage
You should never attempt to dig out an earwax build-up yourself, because this can worsen the problem.
Avoiding the use of cotton buds as they have the opposite effect. Cotton buds push the wax towards the eardrum and may cause serious damage, making the wax harder by compacting it and leading to infections.
Over cleaning of the ear canal with cotton buds, may lead to the ears producing more wax, as the sebaceous glands that produce wax are stimulated. As the saying goes, you shouldn’t put anything smaller than your elbow inside your ears.
How to cure blocked ears
Once the blockage had been identified, A specialist will examine the ear canal. Once the examination has been completed, the plug must be removed from the canal to alleviate any discomfort and risk of infection. The wax plug will be removed by various methods such as microsuction, irrigation and the use of medical instruments when appropriate.
