If your ear has felt blocked for days, sounds are muffled, or you have that maddening sense of being underwater, the cause is usually wax. It is not a sign you have done anything wrong — some people simply produce more of it, and some ear canals are shaped in a way that holds on to it.
Our microsuction clinic runs at Sandwell Pharmacy, 85 Church Vale, West Bromwich B71 4DH, which is a short journey from Tipton and covers DY4. If you are coming from Great Bridge and Princes End, there is parking nearby and the clinic runs by appointment rather than a queue.
A clinician looks into the ear with a microscope and lifts the wax out using a fine suction tube. Nothing is pushed in, and no water is used. That is the difference from syringing, and it is why microsuction is the method now preferred for most people — particularly anyone with a perforated eardrum, a grommet, a history of ear surgery, or an ear that has been troublesome after syringing in the past.
You will hear the suction, which is loud, a bit like a hoover held near your head. It is not painful. Most appointments take fifteen to thirty minutes and you can hear the difference immediately — that moment is usually the best part of the job.
Wax comes out far more easily if it has been softened. Use olive oil or a sodium bicarbonate ear drop, two or three drops into the affected ear, twice a day for three to five days before your appointment. Lie on your side for a minute afterwards so it stays in.
Do not use cotton buds, and do not use ear candles. Buds push wax further in and pack it against the eardrum, which turns a ten-minute job into a difficult one. Ear candles have no evidence behind them and carry a real risk of burns and of wax being dripped into the canal.
Book a GP appointment rather than a wax removal if you have discharge from the ear, significant pain, a high temperature, sudden hearing loss in one ear, or ringing that has come on suddenly. Sudden hearing loss in particular is treated as urgent, because the treatment window is short. Our pharmacist will tell you if what you are describing needs a doctor instead, and will not charge you for an appointment you should not be having.
One ear [PRICE TBC], both ears [PRICE TBC]. If the pharmacist looks and decides there is not enough wax to be worth removing, you are not charged for the removal.
Call Sandwell Pharmacy on 0121 588 7678 or see the branch page for opening hours and directions. If you are not sure whether wax is your problem, ring and describe it — that conversation is free, and it saves you a trip if the answer is that you need a GP.
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