The Ultimate Upgrade - Ear, Ear

...and how or where are you supposed to wash your hair then?

Why wouldn't you just wash your ears when you shower?

Bananahead posted:

Why wouldn't you just wash your ears when you shower?

So many other key parts to concentrate on keeping scrupulously clean.

I wonder if the doc specified extra virgin or light olive oil. I suspect light will enhance the upper frequencies while EVOO does bass justice. Personally, I'd go with something from the Tuscany region, cold-pressed and organic.

I get problems with eczema in my ears if I get a lot of water in them, and for years I've been using earplugs to keep the water out of my ears when I shower. I use flight earplugs, which seem to work very well. So I'd say that the doctor's advice is very good. 

Never heard this, quite new. I wil follow the post with interest if more tips are coming, lately I have the feeling my right ear is deteriorating...

Those soft foam flight ear plugs can be a double-edged sword depending on how far you insert them. Worst case they can jam wax farther into the ear canal. Best case the wax will stick to the foam and be extracted.

I opened a thread like this a while ago.  I wash my hair/head ( I don't have much hair) whilst in the bath, and submerging with a tilt until I can hear a pop sound from the water filling up the outer ear, then a quite rinse from the shower.   I find that whilst cleaning ears in the shower soap would get in that couldn't be rinsed out and leaving me with little pops for a while from the soapy bubbles.

I work as a part time chef, and a kitchen can get greasy very easily from fumes , so more important for me as having greasy ears is not an option  .

I was always taught that you shouldn't put anything smaller than the tip of your index finger in your ear, although your fifth, smallest, finger is known in latin as Digitus Auricularis, the Ear Finger, because that's the one most people use to wiggle in their ears.

My old doctor's advice was never to put anything smaller than an elbow in your ear.......

On a more serious note, it is interesting that the various fora show people paying meticulous and minute attention to different parts of their equipment, but little to their own auditory system - another version of the "source first" philosophy?

Around 18 months ago I had an infection in my left ear. It actually moved my ear drum slightly so that it wasn't sitting right in my ear. After 4 different courses of antibiotics I ended up having a small tube inserted in my ear to relieve any build up of pressure ( I'll spare you the details ). My hearing has deteriorated quite a lot in my left ear and for a while my balance wasn't too good either, liken it to coming home from the pub. The nurse who treated me, who was fantastic by the way, said I should put a small pea sized piece of cotton wool with olive oil on it in my ear each time I showered or bathed. Cotton buds are a definite no no. My hearing will not improve beyond what it is now I've been told and I still have to have my ear cleaned at the hospital 4 times a year. One more thing, the doctor said the infection could have been picked up while cleaning out my tropical fish tank.

At work I am known as the "wax king" and must remove at least 50-100 ears worth of the stuff each year from a variety of predominantly middle aged patients.

Yes cotton buds are a no-no.They can act like a ramrod in a musket and push the wax furthur in. I often see the concave appearance  on the wax surface of an inveterate, and often fastidious closet wax cleaning obsessive.

If you think you have wax in your ear get it checked. If present a few nights of olive oil or waxsol before getting the ear cleaned makes the wax softer and easier to remove.

If wax gets wet eg swimming or in the shower, it expands and this can cause mild deafness. Sometimes bacteria thrive in the wet wax and can spread to the thin skin of the ear canal casusing itching , discharge and sometimes quite severe pain. The bacteria often are similar to the persons perianal bacteria, god knows how they get there!

Some people can get an irritant dermatitis from shampoo and the ear is best blocked in the shower with blutak or a cotton ball with vaseline on it. If you have itchy ear canals, get it checked by your GP as thrush(candida) can cause itch. It not it may be this is eczema and once a week moderate strength steroid cream applied gently in the outer 1cm of the ear canal with a cotton bud(an exception to the rule) can stop the itching.

When all is said and done the removal of nice succulent wax from the ear canal is very satisfying!

Another thing to worry about. Modern life was becoming dull this evening.

Kiwi cat posted:

The bacteria [in the ear canal] often are similar to the persons perianal bacteria, god knows how they get there!

I think there may be the basis of an undergrad Med Soc Review sketch here .....

C.

Hungryhalibut posted:

I get problems with eczema in my ears if I get a lot of water in them, and for years I've been using earplugs to keep the water out of my ears when I shower. I use flight earplugs, which seem to work very well. So I'd say that the doctor's advice is very good. 

Halibut, did you remember to remove the earplugs when you listened to the 252 at home?