Why Private Earwax Removal?
People often attend one of our Private earwax removal clinics knowing that they may have a wax problem. They are unable to get help from their GP for a variety of reasons. Sometimes just getting their GP to look in their ear can be an uphill struggle.
With NHS waiting times getting longer, and with pressure increases on local services, our customers struggle to resolve what can be a debilitating situation. Why might this be?
What is earwax?
Earwax – or cerumen – is the brown/yellow looking waxy matter produced in the human ear canal as well as in that of other mammals. It forms a barrier against bacteria, fungus as well as against foreign bodies. Earwax is produced in the outer section of the ear canal and it consists of dead skin together with saturated and unsaturated long-chain fatty acids, alcohols, squalene and cholesterol giving it some of its hydrophobic and antimicrobial properties.
The ear, a cul-de-sac
Because the ear canal is a “cul-de-sac” a “dead-end”, skin cells within the ear canal uniquely all naturally migrate outwards to avoid clogging up of the ear canal. This process is known as epithelial migration and was first observed in the late nineteenth century.
Interestingly the rate of movement is said to be approximately that of fingernail growth.
Scientists have done this in the past, but don’t try this at home; if you painted a dot on an ear drum and checked back every few weeks, you would observe the dot migrating until it would eventually “leave” the ear canal. It is thought that jaw movement helps in this process of migration. As ear canal cells migrate outwards they take with them the secreted earwax together with any debris within the wax keeping the ear canal clear.
Too much of a good thing, when ear wax becomes a problem requiring ear wax removal.
However sometimes too much earwax accumulates within the ear canal and may become impacted. There are a variety of causes for ear wax build up.
These include heritable differences to the texture of earwax, exposure to dust, age and even time of year may contribute to wax build up.
Impacted earwax can result in some of these common symptoms to name a few:
- Hearing loss with or without tinnitus
- General discomfort and itchiness
- Pain in the ear/jaw
- Dizziness and Imbalance
If earwax is pushed further down the ear canal using cotton buds or paper, an eardrum perforation can result.
Why your NHS GP surgery has stopped syringing your ears, leaving you having to seek private earwax removal services?
The NICE guidelines (June 2018) have recommended that ear syringing should no longer be carried out. This is due to the significant safety risks involved, these include:
- Ear infection
- Perforation
- Dizziness and Imbalance
- Tinnitus
The most recent NICE guidelines (June 2018) do recommend that GP/Primary Care providers do offer alternative wax removal services. These might include pressure controlled ‘ear irrigation’ or ‘manual removal’. However in practice, many NHS providers have stopped offering earwax removal services altogether. This is partly because of the extra training involved in and the experience required to offer these services safely.
Ear Irrigation
Another method recommended by the NICE guidelines is Ear irrigation. In this method an electronic water pump is used to irrigate the ear after using drops for a at least a week. Generally Ear Irrigation is considered less risky than syringing, but practitioners still operate blindly without a view of the eardrum and the risk of injury and infection is still present. For this reason ENT surgeons generally tend to use microsuction as their method of choice.
Secondary Referrals
A straw poll of GP practices in Edgware, Mill Hill and Borehamwood in Barnet would reveal that indeed many of these practices will recommend that their patients seek local private earwax removal services of those qualified to carry out microsuction earwax removal in the first instance. The alternative is to use ear drops for a lengthy period of time before referral to an NHS earwax removal provider.
Paediatric Earwax Removal
Some NHS wax removal providers do offer adult earwax removal irrigation services, but not paediatric ear wax removal services.
Audiologist Ltd – Offering Expert and Affordable Microsuction Earwax Removal services near you
Our Staff have a wealth of ongoing NHS microsuction earwax removal experience in both adult and paediatric services working in hospitals in inner London. As a result we are able to offer an affordable £60 per appointment both ear microsuction earwax removal service within London. We aim to achieve full resolution in a single appointment with safety being our primary concern.
We currently have three clinics, the Microsuction Earwax Removal Clinic in Edgware, Microsuction Earwax Removal Clinic in Borehamwood and we also regularly see patients at our clinic in Mill Hill.