Ear Wax: The Unsticky Truth

Ear wax: the unsticky truth. This is Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, Speaking of Health. How do you spell relief for earwax? A group of pediatricians from Louisville, Kentucky – who published their findings in the Archives Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine – did a clinical study comparing three different earwax removing liquids, one of which was ordinary, medical-grade salt solution. The other products were docusate sodium, the best known brand of which is Colace™; and triethaolamine polypeptide, better know as Cerumenex™.

The research team took 92 children up to the age of 5 and, as pediatricians do, tried to see their tympanic membranes – their eardrums. Earwax, obviously, can block that visualization; it can also reduce hearing in children and adults and cause irritation. So to unclog the earwax they put some drops in the children’s ears and tried to see the eardrum 15 minutes later. Without irrigating the ear – that is, flushing it out with 2 ounces of water – that earwax stayed pretty much in place. But when they flushed the ears gently; each of the liquid treatments – even the saline solution – worked about half the time.

The lesson to be learned? It can be safe and easy to soften and reduce earwax, even in children – even medical-style normal saline might work half the time. Admittedly that’s only half the time, but success here, I guess, is measured by whether you see that ear as half-empty – or half-full. Speaking of Health, I’m Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, for CBS News.

Ref: Arch Pediatr Adolsesc Med Dec 2003; 157: 1177-1180

Pediatric Alert Jan 8, 2004; 29:4-5

Ref: JAMA Dec. 10, 2003; 290:2968-75

J Pediatr. Nov. 2003; 143:576-581

Pediatric Alert, Jan. 8, 2004; 29:2-3

E-Mail drdavis@davishealth.com

---

Dr. Steve Davis
7810 Louis Pasteur #200
San Antonio, Texas 78229
210/614-3355

---