Can You Safely Remove Earwax Impactions at Home?

Cerumen, the medical name for earwax, is naturally produced by the body to protect the ear. Indeed, earwax serves an important purpose: it is designed to prevent small particles and debris from going deep into the ear canal.

The good news about your ears is that they are self-cleaning. Each time the ear produces new earwax, it pushes the older wax outwards to trap particles. When this happens, the wax dries out and falls off. When this happens, the old wax is visible and can be easily removed during washing.

However, if you experience excessive earwax problems, you may be experiencing earwax impaction, which means a blockage has built up. Are you looking for a safe ear cleaning method you can do at home to remove blockage? We are here to help you understand what earwax impaction truly means and how to resolve the issue safely.

What is An Earwax Blockage?

When too much cerumen builds up inside the ear canal and can’t be washed away, it can cause an earwax blockage. This is what your audiologist calls earwax impaction. It is important to distinguish earwax impaction from natural earwax production. It is perfectly normal to notice earwax on the outside of the ear canal. You can wash it off in the shower or wipe it safely with a soft and wet cloth.

Earwax impaction happens inside the ear canal, which means that you can’t see it. But you will notice significant symptoms, such as:

• Earache
• Hearing loss
• Tinnitus or ringing in the ear
• Feeling of ear fullness
• Itchy ear

I Have No Symptoms, But I See Excess Earwax

Every person is different, and some individuals simply produce more earwax than others. You can experience difficulties with ear cleaning if the wax is hard and dry. We recommend using a warm and damp washcloth to loosen it gently. This will help with wax removal.

Is There a Safe Ear Cleaning Method for Earwax Impaction?

While it may be tempting to remove the blockage yourself, you should also exert caution. Indeed, home remedies for earwax impaction are likely to cause more damage. Audiologists frequently see patients who have tried to clean an earwax buildup at home and caused irreparable damage to their inner ear in the process.

Why does this happen? One of the preferred bathroom utensils to clean ears, the cotton swab, can be extremely dangerous when misused. The swap tends to push the earwax buildup deeper into the ear canal rather than remove it. This makes your earwax impaction worse. Additionally, if you try to push the swap further into the ear canal, you could even cause a ruptured eardrum.

Similarly, other popular home remedies, such as inserting an ear candle or a syringe, can cause permanent damage to the ear.

If you notice symptoms of earwax impaction, we advise against trying to remove it at home. Instead, you should book an appointment with your audiologist, who can examine your ear and proceed to safe ear cleaning with specialist tools.