Ear syringe

[Oldjohnw]

My wife suffers from m unfortunate combination of excessive was production and narrow ear orifices. Consequently it is difficult for the normal self cleaning of the ear to take place.
She has had her ears washed out every year for many years. Suddenly the NHS will no longer do this. The doctor agrees the problem and has referred her to an ENT clinic to have the job done but this is several months away.

Meanwhile she is almost totally deaf. Or she was until she agreed to pay £39 per ear in a clinic.

What is going on? Are we seeing healthctof you can afford it or loss of hearing of you can't?

[jezer]

Yes, it’s more creeping privatisation of health care. I have to have my ears cleared of wax every few months. As a result of this new NHS policy I had to visit Specsavers at a cost of £35 per ear. They do use better equipment though, vacuum instead of a water jet.

[Darkman]

Have the same issue myself, though not as severe as that. My GP told me they had to stop syringing cos of the potential to cause ear drum damage. But he also said it's health and safety gone mad and it's dead easy to do yourself.

So I did. Went to Lloyd's pharmacy and asked for a syringe. In the meantime I soaked my ear in Otex for a couple of days first (it works better than olive oil), put a bit of warm water in a jug, suck some into the syringe and in it goes. Had to repeat it five or six times but it did the job and hasn't reoccurred since.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Had it done twice..........once with cold water
Now I just rinse with the shower head and turn the temp up to just below ouching hot.

[Psamathe]

I had the problem for first time earlier this year. I "rinsed" out my own ears with one of those bulb things and ended-up deaf in one ear! Very scared.

Walk-in centre said blocked with wax (both ears) and directed me to a private clinic which cost me £30 for 1 ear, £50 for both. Using vacuum machine rather than syringe (which I understand is much safer).

Maybe telephone your Walk-In Centre as see if they know of anywhere. Place that did mine was a one-man-band in Norwich so no use to you.

Ian

[Paulatic]

I used to be an annual visitor for ear syringing. Over a year ago I could never catch the nurse who does it and the nurse who was there couldn’t do it. I was getting deafer and deafer using the usual olive oil I even bought something over the counter which didn’t work.
Eventually I’d had enough and went on EBay and bought a rubber syringe for the job. I just fill a basin with warm water fill the syringe and squirt away.
I couldn’t believe what came out with that blockage. Now with any first signs out comes the syringe the result is not a dramatic but always does the job.

[Cyril Haearn]

I had this done several times, once the nurse bleated that she had never seen so much wax rinse out of an ear
One should be careful with diy, the membrane could be damaged, but maybe gentle use of warm water should be OK, best not to try oneself, get a companion to help, they can see better what they are doing

[reohn2]

My wife suffers from m unfortunate combination of excessive was production and narrow ear orifices. Consequently it is difficult for the normal self cleaning of the ear to take place.
She has had her ears washed out every year for many years. Suddenly the NHS will no longer do this. The doctor agrees the problem and has referred her to an ENT clinic to have the job done but this is several months away.

Meanwhile she is almost totally deaf. Or she was until she agreed to pay £39 per ear in a clinic.

What is going on? Are we seeing healthctof you can afford it or loss of hearing of you can't?

Mrs R2 suffers similarly,she has the same problem with waiting for appointments,so she now has them syringed privately @ £50 for both ears or £30 for one.

[tim-b]

Hi
I've been having my ears syringed at my GP surgery since the days of a large shiny stainless(?) syringe. Various electric washers followed until they stopped providing the service a few years ago.
A couple of days of BP olive oil (the thin stuff, not the cooking variety) followed on day three with warm water through a much smaller and less shiny plastic syringe does the job. A drop of tea tree oil to 5ml olive oil seems to keep infections at bay and saves the occasional need for anti-biotic drops
Regards
tim-b

[Paulatic]

I had this done several times, once the nurse bleated that she had never seen so much wax rinse out of an ear
One should be careful with diy, the membrane could be damaged, but maybe gentle use of warm water should be OK, best not to try oneself, get a companion to help, they can see better what they are doing

I’d disagree with that. If you do it yourself you can feel the level of swooshing pressure and measure it with the feeling from the nurses syringe or electric pumping gun. A layman with a Karcher pressure washer and no idea could certainly blow your ears apart.

[armadillo]

Had my ear done by the local GP Practice nurse a few weeks ago, so still available on the NHS in primary care. (I suspect it depends on each individual GP Practice as to whether it is offered or not.)

[drossall]

I've had this problem repeatedly. I'm booked to see the GP practice nurse about having it done again in a week or two, so yes, still available in some areas.

[fausto copy]

My wife suffers from m unfortunate combination of excessive was production and narrow ear orifices. Consequently it is difficult for the normal self cleaning of the ear to take place.
She has had her ears washed out every year for many years. Suddenly the NHS will no longer do this. The doctor agrees the problem and has referred her to an ENT clinic to have the job done but this is several months away.

Meanwhile she is almost totally deaf. Or she was until she agreed to pay £39 per ear in a clinic.

What is going on? Are we seeing healthctof you can afford it or loss of hearing of you can't?

Mrs R2 suffers similarly,she has the same problem with waiting for appointments,so she now has them syringed privately @ £50 for both ears or £30 for one.

A better offer than 3 for the price of 2 though.

[reohn2]

My wife suffers from m unfortunate combination of excessive was production and narrow ear orifices. Consequently it is difficult for the normal self cleaning of the ear to take place.
She has had her ears washed out every year for many years. Suddenly the NHS will no longer do this. The doctor agrees the problem and has referred her to an ENT clinic to have the job done but this is several months away.

Meanwhile she is almost totally deaf. Or she was until she agreed to pay £39 per ear in a clinic.

What is going on? Are we seeing healthctof you can afford it or loss of hearing of you can't?

Mrs R2 suffers similarly,she has the same problem with waiting for appointments,so she now has them syringed privately @ £50 for both ears or £30 for one.

A better offer than 3 for the price of 2 though.

[mercalia]

I am lucky have big lugs I use an old spoke to scrape the wax out, so never builds up