Three to five days before
- Buy olive oil drops or a pharmacy wax softener (sodium bicarbonate 5% is also used). Skip almond oil if you have a nut allergy.
- Lie with the affected ear up. Put in 2–3 drops. Stay there 5–10 minutes. Repeat 3–4 times a day.
- Do not use drops if you have a known hole in the eardrum, grommets, a discharging ear, or a badly inflamed canal — phone us instead.
- Leave cotton buds, corners of towels, and hair grips out of the canal. They pack wax in.
If both ears are blocked, treat one, then the other, so you are not lying in a puddle of oil. A tissue under the ear afterwards is enough — you do not need to rinse.
On the day
Please arrive a few minutes early so you are not rushing. Parking and the entrance are on the contact page.
- We confirm your details, medical history and the screening questions from your booking form.
- You will be asked to sign consent. Ask anything you like before you sign.
- Sit in the treatment chair. We examine both ears even if only one feels blocked — wax is often two-sided.
- If wax is there and treatment is safe, we remove it. You can ask us to pause at any moment.
- If the wax is still rock-hard, we may stop rather than force it, give you a further drop plan, and bring you back. A repeat within 14 days is free if you used the drops as asked.
- If there is no wax, we say so. You pay only the examination fee. Persistent muffled hearing then needs your GP, not another clean.
Aftercare
- Keep the ear dry for 24 hours — no swimming, and care with showers
- Leave the canal alone; no buds, no scratching
- A little residual oil or dampness is normal after irrigation
- Hearing aids can usually go back in once the ear feels comfortable and dry
- If you are prone to wax, a few drops of olive oil once a week is a reasonable habit — not daily flooding
Contact us or a doctor if
- Pain that is more than a mild ache, or pain that is getting worse
- Discharge, smell, or swelling of the outer ear
- Fever
- Spinning vertigo, sudden drop in hearing, or new ringing that worries you
- Bleeding that does not stop with gentle pressure on the outer ear
Those signs can mean infection or, rarely, injury. Use our phone in hours, or NHS 111 / your GP if we are closed. Call 999 for facial weakness, severe sudden deafness with vertigo, or any emergency.
Hearing aids, tinnitus and “only one good ear”
Hearing aids. Wax is the most common reason an aid suddenly whistles or sounds dead. Bring the aid with you. We can often clear the mould dome of debris as well as the canal. Tell us if you are waiting for an NHS mould impression — the canal must be clear for that.
Tinnitus. Clearing wax sometimes eases buzzing that was caused by the blockage. It can also make tinnitus more noticeable for a short time because the ear can hear again. We irrigate more cautiously if tinnitus is a big feature.
Hearing in only one ear. We will not irrigate that ear. The small risk of harm is not acceptable when it is your only hearing ear. Microsuction may still be discussed, or we may refer you.