Ear Wax And What To Do

[lyall]

Hello

I have a couple of question regarding my 80 year old Dad. He has rung his surgery today for an appointment to have his ears syringed. The receptionist made him an appointment for the 27th of this month and told him to start putting 3-4 drops of olive oil in his ears 3 times a day from today. My question is should he not have gone and seen if he has ear wax before he starts putting olive oil in (personally I think his hearing problem is age related deafness). To me it seems excessive to put 3-4 drops of oil in 3 times a day for nearly 3 weeks when the NHS web site only recommends a week? Will using oil for that long harm his ears?

[Sqad]

\\\\\ My question is should he not have gone and seen if he has ear wax before he starts putting olive oil in (personally I think his hearing problem is age related deafness).\\\

A very good question.

\\\\ To me it seems excessive to put 3-4 drops of oil in 3 times a day for nearly 3 weeks when the NHS web site only recommends a week? Will using oil for that long harm his ears? \\\

No big deal.

[lyall]

Thanks Sqad. Think I’ll try and persuade him to have his ears looked at by the nurse before he stars putting the olive oil in, but he can be pretty determined once he makes his mind up. Glad to know no damage could be done with 3 weeks of olive oil. Thanks for putting my mind at rest.

[Sqad]

No problem lyall.

[heathfield]

Our local Health Centre, and many others locally, have stopped syringing ears. They say it's because the procedure can introduce infection. They advise drops instead. My wife suffered deafness from ear wax for six weeks while using drops, and in the end her doctoe admitted defeat, and she had her ears syringed. If syringing introduces infection, why can't they get round that by using an antiseptic wash? I reckon they're just trying to cut down on time the practice nurse spends on a patient.

[Sqad]

\\\\\They say it's because the procedure can introduce infection. \\\

That is b@lls.

\\\\I reckon they're just trying to cut down on time the practice nurse spends on a patient.\\\\

That is closer to the truth heathfield.

[jno]

how long does syringing take? I thought it was only minutes but can't really remember

[Sqad]

jno....if it is easy to remove............5 mins (80% are easy)

it difficult.........one would not proceed more than 10 mins.