The practice does provide an ear irrigation clinic (formerly known as ear syringing) to remove earwax but please read below before contacting the practice.
What is ear wax?
Ear wax is a build-up of dead cells, hair, foreign material such as dust, and cerumen. Cerumen is the natural wax produced by glands in the ear. Tt forms a protective coating of the skin in the ear canal. Small amounts are made all the time. Flakes or crusts of ear wax break off and fall out of the ear from time to time.
The quantity of earwax made varies greatly from person to person. Some people form plugs of earwax in their ear canal. This may cause a feeling of fullness and dulled hearing. It can feel uncomfortable. A hard plug of ear wax can also sometimes cause 'ringing in the ear' (tinnitus) or even a mild type of dizziness (vertigo).
A doctor or nurse can look into the ear canal and confirm a plug of ear wax has formed. A plug of ear wax is not a serious problem, more a nuisance. You only need to remove ear wax if it is causing symptoms such as dulled hearing. Ear wax may also need to be removed for fitting of a hearing aid, or if a doctor or nurse needs to examine your ear drum.
Note: do not try to clean the ear canal with cotton wool buds, etc. This can make things worse, as you will push some ear wax deeper inside. It may also cause an ear infection. So, let the ear clean itself. Oiling the ear sometimes helps with the removal of ear wax. Further information on this can be found on the NHS Website below.
Appointment for Ear Irrigation (Ear Syringing)
A clinician such as Paramedic Practitioner, Nurse Practitioner or GP will need to assess your ear first to establish whether the problem is due to infection or any other contraindication to ear syringing. Once authorised an appointment can be made with our Healthcare Assistant who is trained in ear syringing. We ask that the affected ear is oiled with olive oil twice daily for 2 weeks prior to the appointment