Ear wax-Part-1

Ear wax ,afterall what is it ?Ear wax-Part-1-Ear wax is produced by the glands present in the skin of the external auditory canal.It traps dust particles and gives oily feel to the skin of the external auditory canal.

Is it a product of  some  disease process?

Or  is  it  a  natural  secretion of the  skin of  external auditory canal  ?

Ear wax (also  known as  cerumen) is  produced  by  the sebaceous glands present  in the  skin of the  external auditory canal .

 It is  dark brown, wet, sticky. It may be yellowish or  off white  in some  people.

What are the  functions  of  ear wax?

Ear  wax  has  hydrophobic surface, so  it  tries to  repel  water, tries  to  prevent  external auditory canal  to get  moist.

It  lubricates  the  external auditory canal.

It  is  an  attempt  by  nature  to  prevent  insects, bacteria and  fungi to  reach  the  tympanic membrane ,further  functions of  ear  wax  are  given  in  this  article, so  pl  go  through this  article  completely.

What is the  composition of  ear  wax?

Ear  wax  is  made  up  of  the  shed  layers of skin and  it  contains  saturated  and unsaturated  fatty acids, cholesterol, keratin, alcohol and  squalene.

What factors lead to  more  production of  wax? –

Foods  containing  high  amounts of  gluten (Wheat  rye, barley). It  can  also  occur  in  people  with  gluten intolerance

Consuming  high  amounts of  dairy  products and  cheese

Consuming  high  amounts  of  sweet  foods  and  caffeine

It  is  light  in  colour at  young  age and  it  darkens  as  the  age  advances. It  is  excreted  in the  form of small pellets  naturally and  we  do not  need to  clean  it at all.

Is it  necessary to  clean  our  ears  regularly  by ourselves?

We  find  many  people  cleaning  their  external  auditory canal by, water  towel, during  bath.

First  of  all  it is not necessary  at  all.

On the  other  hand  by  insertion of  water into  the  external auditory canal  ,you are  making  it  wet  and  there are  very  high  chances  of  catching  fungal infection of the  ear-which  is  very painful.

What is  purpose of  ear  wax?

There is  lot of  dust in the  air.

This  dust  contains  many  bacteria.

Wax is moist .So  it  traps  the  dust  and  natural  antibodies present  in the  wax  destroy the bacteria.

So  nature  is  great  !

So  wax  is  secreted by the  skin of the external auditory canal  for  our betterment  only !

Even if you  get it  cleaned  from  an  ENT specialist doctor and  view your  tympanic  membrane on  computer  monitor  with the help of  endoscopic  camera  system, for  confirmation,that your  ear  is  cleaned properly then  also  wax  will  continue to be  produced by the  skin of the  external auditory canal.

It  will be  excreted in the form of small pellets.

Then  in  which  situation  does  your  qualified and experienced  ENT  specialist doctor will  clean your  ear ?

Only  and  only,  if  you  ear  wax  is  causing  decreased  hearing  problems,

Earache,

Ear  blocking  sensation, then  and  then  only  ear  cleaning  is  required.

Ear  cleaning  is  done  by  ENT specialist doctor with  the help of microscope or  endoscope and  after that you may  view  your  tympanic membrane of  ear  on  computer monitor with the help of endoscopic camera system.

Once  ear  cleaning is done  you  may  visit  your  ENT  specialist doctor once  every  year

What things should not be done ?

An  individual  should  never  clean  his ear  with  hot oil, cold oil, water, stick, pin, keys, -This will  definitely damage the  skin of  external auditory canal  and tympanic  membrane.

At times  tympanic membrane perforation  can  also  result, which  may  require  tympanoplasty surgery.

Injury to  external auditory canal skin can  cause  a  painful  condition  called  otitis  external.

In  Otitis externa  there  is  severe  earache and  oedema  of the external auditory canal skin  due to  which the  diameter of the  external acoustic meatus  is  reduced or  may  get  totally  obliterated  also.

What is  treatment of  otitis  externa  ?

Treatment  of  otitis  externa given  by  ENT specialist doctor is  high  dose  of  analgesics, higher  antibiotics  and  most  important thing  of  all  is  that the  patient  should  avoid touching  the  ear and  avoid  doing  the  same  thing again -insertion of  hot  oil, cold  oil, water, cleaning  ear with  stick, pin, keys.

What  possible  problems  can  occur  when you do  ear  cleaning  from  your  ENT  specialist doctor  ?

Well there  are  no  problems  as  such  ,but  when  ear  cleaning  is  attempted by syringing  or  suction  irrigation  with  ear  microscope transient  Giddiness  can occur which  is  due  to  the  stimulation of the labyrinth .Any  temperature  of the  irrigating fluid  higher  or lower than the  endolymph, perilymph will  cause  movement  of the  fluid  and  hence  giddiness.

Giddiness is to be  immediately looked up  after  by  asking  the  patient to  do hyperventilation, (taking  deep  breath inside  ,holding  it  for  5 seconds and  then  releasing  it) -this  hyperventilation can be  done for  approximately  2-3 minutes, visual  fixation (asking  the  patient  to  concentrate vision  on  the  tip of your  index finger) -this  is  usually  done  for  2-3 minutes, raising  up  the  interior  extremities  so  as to  increase the  blood supply  to  the  heart. By doing  all  this Giddiness  usually  settles  down  in  2-3 minutes.Whenever ear cleaning is done  whether  by  ear  microscope or  endoscope or  by  syringing  it  should be  always  done  with the  patient  in  supine  position  and  after  when  it is over  then  also  patient  must  lie  in  supine  position  for  at  least  5 minutes and  then  get  up  so  that  giddiness  does not  occur. After all  prevention is  always  better than  cure.

For further details pl go through  our article on  Ear  wax -Part-  2 in  health useful.com

https://healthuseful.com/ is the link for this website .

For any ENT (Ear, nose ,throat ) problems you  may  contact -Prabha ENT (Ear nose throat) clinic ,Dr Sagar Rajkuwar (MS-ENT), ENT specialist doctor,

Adress -Prabha ENT clinic plot no 345 ,Saigram colony ,opposite Indoline

 furniture Ambad link road, Ambad ,1 km from Pathardi phata ,Nashik 422010 ,Maharashtra .

Appointment  nos  for clinic  visit  or  for  online  consultation -7387590194,

9892596635