NHS Ear Wax Removal

Okay, you’ve been meaning to get your ears cleaned for a while. You’re struggling to hear properly, or the excess ear wax is causing some discomfort. You decide to book an appointment for an NHS wax removal, only to be told sorry you don’t qualify. How is this even possible, I hear you shout and stamp your feet. Well, allow me to explain.

So once upon a time, there was, well, there still is, a great UK organisation called the NHS or national health service. Set up in early July 1948. Its goal was to provide free medical services to the citizens of the UK, all funded by the taxpayer. Up until 2020, a NHS ear wax removal was a service offered through the local GP.

You would make an appointment to see the doctors, and they would take out their magic syringe and attempt to remove impacted ear wax. However, the bad guys in this story, the CCGs, decided that they would no longer pay GP practises to smush the wax out of patients’ ears anymore, BOOHOO. Who is the CCGs? I hear you cry. Well, according to their website (deep breath), they are clinically-led statutory NHS bodies responsible for the planning and commissioning of health care services for their local area. 

Plot Twist

A few exceptions may be considered for treatment by an ENT specialist (big hot shot up at the hospital. Knows a lot about the ear, nose, and throat). ENT referrals are arranged if the patient has:

• A chronic perforation of the tympanic membrane.
• A history of ear surgery.
• A foreign body in the ear canal.
• Used ear drops, which have been unsuccessful, and irrigation is contraindicated.
• Had unsuccessful irrigation.
• Eczema or psoriasis

So, if you were told you don’t fall under any of those requirements, what alternative options are there?

DIY?

Do it yourself, or DON’T! Do it yourself is the advice from medical professionals like ENT specialists. For some, ear wax may simply just pop out itself. But for many, people try to remove it using various weird, wonderful and dangerous methods like:

Cotton buds or swabs.
A household favourite, the cotton bud, cotton swap or Q tip for our relatives across the pond is a stick made of plastic wood or paper with cotton wool covered tips. One end of the bud is dunked into the ear canal, swizzled around like a sherbet dip dab for a few seconds, and then pulled back out to view the rewards. This technique may work for some, but for many may cause more damage to the canal and eardrum. With a good chance of getting the cotton wool lodged in the ear canal and further pushing the ear wax further into the ear.

Ear candle quackery
A few years back, videos went viral on YouTube of “highly trained ear wax removal specialists” using an ‘ear candle’ to help remove ear wax. Ear candles are long wax-covered paper cones. One end of the cone is placed into the ear while the other is lit on fire. This highly piece of scientific equipment, the paper cone, burns for the next 10 minutes above the patient’s face. As the cone burns down, it is, by some miracle, sucking out all the ear wax into the cone while simultaneously providing smoke inhalation and skin burns as a participation prize. This method has, on many occasions, been debunked. There’s no scientific evidence that ear candling or candles remove debris from the ear canal. Please stay well away from ear candles.

Anything you can find

We have had patients who have attempted to clean out their ear wax using:

• Car Keys
• Cocktail Sticks
• A screw or a nail
• Tweezers
• Scissors (ouch)

All these methods have only created more problems with damaged canals and eardrums as a result. If you do not qualify for an ENT referral to have an NHS ear wax removal, the best option is to book an appointment with one of our mobile ear wax removal heroes and heroines. Armed with the latest shiny microsuction tools, Our professional ear wax removal practitioners will have you free from the clutches of ear wax.

If you would like some more information about our mobile ear wax removal in Cheshire service or would like to make an appointment for a home visit, fill in our lovely form below. Our mobile earwax removal practitioners also offer an earwax removal in Stoke-on-Trent as well Newcastle Under Lyme, Macclesfield, Biddulph, Holme Chapel and Sandbach.