USB otoscopes (for DIY ear cleaning) - any experiences?

[FMurtz]

This seems to be the only answer of so many that addresses the subject matter and it seems that no one including you has practical experience.

[Chris Hogg]

Nothing special, just a standard syringe. I've had it for several decades. Can't remember where I got it. I misremembered the capacity: it's 10ml, not 20ml as I said earlier. Pic here

short nozzle stops it going too far down into your ear.

[Chris Hogg]

Same as what's in the hand-basin: warm water, a dash of washing-up detergent to 'wet' the wax (Fairy Liquid in my case), a dash of antiseptic just to keep the bugs at bay (something like Dettol but not Dettol as I hate the smell). I just suck the mix up into the syringe, put the nozzle into my ear (it won't go in too far because the barrel of the syringe prevents it), squirt the whole contents quite hard into my ear while holding my head over the hand-basin, ear inclined downwards so that at least most of the water ends up back in the basin. Repeat the squirting until the plug of wax has been flushed out, then repeat the process with the other ear.

[alan_m]

Readily available on Ebay. Search for syringes for filling ink cartridges. Many come with detachable needles that can be discarded.

[whisky-dave]

Me too, haveblt counted how many times though, never had a hearing problem. I think all, that's needed is a bit of care when using such a bud.

I buy a tub of 100 about once a year I estimate, but this thread has reminded me to restock the ones I use in the lab.

[whisky-dave]

A friend of mine used to go to a specialist that used some sort of candle. The session cost about £30 an hour and he seemed very happy with the results then 3 months later decided it waqs a waste of time and never went back, so I can't comment on it, but below seems to be the sort of thing he was having done to him. And I do remmber him saying she was a lovely young lady so maybe that helped part him from his money.

[Max Demian]

Makes about as much sense as wart charming.

[Andy Burns]

Did he have colonic irrigation and chakra shaving too?

[whisky-dave]

No, but his had a parial hip replacement and he was teacher then landscape gardner.

[Terry Casey]

A few years ago I had trouble with excessive wax build up. I used a technique which might be described as micro suction!

I had an empty bottle with an applicator - might have been Earax, but I can't remeber now.

It had a glass applicator, so the end was smoothly rounded and much too big to go too far into the ear. I used water as hot as I could bear it and used the applicator to inject it into the ear canal, then held it in place so that it sucked the water back out again. I refilled the applicator at frquent intervals until, at last, it failed to suck!

Invariably, a thin crooked length of wax was jammed into the end of the nozzle which I ejected by squeezing the bulb.

Sometimes I would need to repeat this two or three times until no further wax was sucked out.

[Andy Burns]

I once had a boss who used a paperclip to pick wax out of his ears, not the curved partly un-folded section, but the cut end of the wire!

[Andrew]

Just use a matchstick (carefully).

[Andrew]

I've just used one to push some dulux weathershield primer into the holes left after I moved some gutter brackets.

Next year I'll go back up and fill with proper external filler and repaint.

[PeterC]

A hairgrip (are they still available?), the sort that's an almost semicircular cross-section, sort of opened out a bit then the ends squeezed back in to almost parallel, does a good job. Put in past the wax then use the flat inside to drag it out. The few that I have of my mother's ar laquered, so even better.

[Tim J]

Yeah, my sister used to do that when I was a teenager.

Worked fine for her, but that is clearly more risky.

[Roger Mills]

I use a paperclip in that way as a tooth pick - but *never* in my ears.

[Andy Burns]

I use a small ty-rap

[whisky-dave]

I think that is a simialr theory to who the hopi wax candles work by gradually sucking. I wonder if Mr Dyson could come up with some sort of digital motor that could do the same. :-)

[whisky-dave]

Or the old style plasic pen tops from bic pens, the ones that clip to yuor pocked and have a shovel indent, it's what they were designed for.

[Jim K..]

Culinary?