re earwax stephen mont cs missouri edu stephen montgomery smith writes what is the healthiest way to deal with earwax should one just leave it in your ear and not mess with it or should you clean it out every so often can cleaning it out damage your eardrums are there any tubes in your ear that might get blocked assuming that the wax is causing hearing loss congestion or popping in the ears you can try some cautious tepid water irrigation with a bulb syringe but it is awkward to do for oneself and may not work or may even make things worse my wife would disagree she does it successfully every six months or so in any case do not attempt anything with q tips my experience has been that this is initially best handled by a ear nose throat person i say initially because an ent can evaluate whether or not you might have success on your own with a little instruction i am not a physician obviously because i eschew the term otolaryngologist this posting is based only on personal experience usual disclaimer the best is the enemy of the good voltaire leon traister lmtra amdahl uts amdahl com c o amdahl corporation e arques ave m s p o box sunnyvale ca
