Ear Irrigation
What is an Ear Irrigation?
Ear irrigation is a type of ear cleaning that is used to remove earwax build-up. Irrigation is the process of putting fluids into the ears to remove earwax.
Causes & Treatment
Symptoms of Ear Irrigation?
A doctor performs ear irrigation to remove an earwax build-up, which can cause the following symptoms:
- hearing loss
- chronic cough
- itching
- pain
How is Ear Irrigation Treated?
Unless a person’s symptoms are certainly related to earwax build-up, doctors rarely advocate irrigating the ear. Placing earwax softener drops in the ears or having a doctor remove extra earwax are two other alternatives for removing excess earwax.It was unclear from known data whether ear irrigation or mechanical treatments were more useful for eliminating earwax, according to the authors of a 2010 systematic review. They did find, however, that some softener drops were effective.Due to the risk of harming the eardrum, people should not attempt to clean earwax at home with cotton swabs or hairpins.
