Do they have q-tips that can be used for the inner ear?

The medical community seems to concur that “nothing” should go in your ear.

I heard one Dr. say “the only thing that should go in your ear is your elbow. ”

Eventually, you can push gunk into the ear,causing painful infections.

They do make a few extraction devices for ear wax.

What @MrGrimm888 wrote. Your ear canal is supposed to have a natural oil that happily has wax & bug bits etc slowly sliding out of your ear all by itself. Cotton tends to remove the oil, breaking the coveyance and leading to backups and clogs and blocks leading to reduced hearing, infections, etc.

Oh and in addition to that, touching too far in can actually do direct permanent damage that could affect your hearing. So don’t.

Every year or so I end up going to a doctor and having them clean out the horrible accumulations of earwax from if/when I use my finger or q-tip and it gets all blocked up. Except when I don’t. Once I noticed my hearing fall off after a month or so. This last time, I’ve been avoiding q-tip use and I think I’m still pretty good after maybe 9 months.

When the doctor does it, he uses a water pick, bucket, and sometimes a light and tweezers etc.

I know people who have had that treatment from a technician and have to come back on a later day to finish it. Ears can get pretty full of stuff.

Don’t poke around in there. I had ear wax bad enough to make me deaf in one ear. The doctor’s assistant flushed it out with a squeeze bulb and warm water. It took a long time.

[WARNING GROSS]

Finally a rock of hairy wax plopped out, about 2 cm by 0.5 cm.

They sell the same squeeze bulb ear kit at Walgreens/etc. Now I flush out my ears three or four times a year in the shower.

@Call_Me_Jay :: I have to go into my GP about once a year for wax removal.

The first time I went in the doctor said I had the worst wax he had ever seen. I was around 15 years old. They didn’t even fuck around with those bulbs you get at Safeway in the ear wax kit. Full on metal syringe. It was like a ear super-soaker. Here you go

I thought I was at the gynecologist.

The thing is after about a hour of that they still had to go in with the hook. This is a thing they will use to scoop out wax. And it hurts like a motherfucker. But you have to be stoic or you will lose a eardrum.

I did ask my doctor about why I am the only one I know that has to deal with this shit and he told me some people just have hairy canals and that catches the wax.

edit: And don’t be fooled by that ear wax candle bullshit. My grandma who was a fucking ICU nurse at Loma Linda Medical Center to me for the burning ear candle treatment and I am sure it just made things worse.

some people just have hairy canals and that catches the wax

That’s my understanding. My dad had it, I have it, it’s hereditary. Some people don’t have the problem.

don’t be fooled by that ear wax candle bullshit

True, bullshit. Homeopathy and pyramid power bullshit. It is good for stealing money from people, though.

Never put anything in your ear smaller than a football.

Q-tips are not for cleaning your ear canal.

I have a similar issue as @johnpowell and have to flush out my ears about every four or five months with the ear drops and bulb syringe flush.

Don’t use them in your ear. If you have a wax problem then buy a preparation from the chemist/pharmacist, or use a couple of drops of olive oil a night to help lubricate and allow the natural ear cleaning process to work.