Ear Candling

[Davey Do]

"Can you hear me now?!"

Most of us brush and floss our teeth before going to the Dentist. Dentists appreciate that.

I have an appointment today with an Otolaryngologist. An ENT. So I thought I may as well "Candle" my ears.

Anyone familiar with the process? Basically, you hold a lit paraffin-coated tube to your ear, light it, and as it burns, it draws the wax out of your ear. I discussed the procedure years ago with the Surgeon who removed the cholesteatoma from my ear and implanted prosthetic ossicles. He said that he could see no harm in doing it.

Works for me. I usually get a good-sized glob of wax out of my ears and can hear more clearly.

Is there any other Ear Candlers out there?

Dave

[vegas2009]

Hey, goodluck with that.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

I have used a very cheap and effective tool to clean my ears..

I use the back end of a new bobby pin..it scrapes all the wax out and you would be shocked at what it pull out. I do it about every other day and anytime I have had my ears examined, I always ask about the interior condition and they have always stated how clean they looked.

You can "feel" if you start to push it too far...I do the same on my children and they do hold still for it...neither have ever had an ear infection.

[Zookeeper3]

to me this seems a touch extreme.. has anyone even considered an ear wax drop remover?

Not being snarky here, just never considered this as I have ear wax build up too that can be very, very painful, and I use an ear wax removal drop... plus hot water in the shower as advised by my doc.

I' m such a goof ball, I'd ignite my hair on fire... and that's a whole other story:D

It it works and you've found a way to be safe and your doc agrees with this than have at it. I'm just not that skilled and would never ever try it.

[nursel56]

to me this seems a touch extreme.. has anyone even considered an ear wax drop remover?

Not being snarky here, just never considered this as I have ear wax build up too that can be very, very painful, and I use an ear wax removal drop... plus hot water in the shower as advised by my doc.

I' m such a goof ball, I'd ignite my hair on fire... and that's a whole other story:D

Thank you! I was a bit nonplussed with the whole ear/hair/flame combo too . . .and Q-tips? Bobbie pins? That feels like heresy, but then I was always told the only thing you should put in your ear is your elbow and to never, ever go swimming until an hour after eating so . . .

It was probably the warm water flush that did it, not the candling. I got the same results after noticing a complete impaction in my partner's ear and just flushing with warm water. Man, was that thing gross when it came out! But SOOOO cool!

When I did this in the office I used a stainless steel syringe and a basin of warm water, put a towel over the patient's shoulder and have them hold an emesis basin under their ear. Then I would get down to business, and I say that because there are alot of men (it was always men) who obviously never attempted to remove any ear wax at all, so when a guy in his 50s or 60s came in for a chief complaint of "not hearing well, no pain, "just feels clogged" I knew I was in for it.

After seeing enough of these wine bottle cork sized aliens, some with tendrils sorry :barf01: you stop thinking they're cool, lol!! These things were gigantic, and I began to think some of these guys must have liked not being able to hear their wife and kids.

I would point out though, the patient was always seen by the MD first even though there was no way in hell he could see the eardrum either to r/o infection, and they never would have gone in blind with a curette (or curette shaped object), always through the lighted otoscope.