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What happens at an earwax appointment?

Earwax (also known as cerumen) is a brown, orange, red, yellowish or grey waxy substance that’s produced in our ear canal. It’s there to look after our skin, clean the ear canal and protect against any bacteria, fungi and water.

Earwax is made from our dead skin cells, hair and secretions made by sebaceous glands in our ear canal. If too much earwax is made, it can cause a build-up which will press against the ear drum, block the ear and/or your hearing aids, and can lead to hearing loss.

Our audiologists are ENT-trained to offer safe, endoscopic earwax removal. We use professional equipment to clear excess wax. 

The consistency of your earwax determines which of our procedures are most suitable to use for your ear wax removal appointment:

  1. Micro Suction – our state-of-the-art video otoscopy equipment is used to directly visualise the earwax to be removed. The earwax is removed with the help of a low-pressure suction machine
  2. Ear Irrigation – this replaces the old-fashioned technique of ear syringing and uses an irrigation device to remove earwax. We never want to squirt water directly towards the wax or eardrum, so this method introduces water into the ear via a specially adapted ear piece, allowing the water to flush earwax out safely
  3. Earwax Extraction – using the same state-of-the-art video otoscopy equipment to visualise the wax in your ear, we can safely remove the wax with the use of micro-instruments (such as a small hook)

Remember: Never put anything in your ears to try and remove earwax. It’s dangerous to insert small, sharp objects into your ears and can also make problems with build-up worse, as the wax gets pushed further into your ear canal.

To find out more about our safe, endoscopic ear wax removal service visit our earwax page

To book an ear wax removal appointment or for more advice, please call 01223 661 399 or book an appointment online.