NHS and Removing ear wax

I do mine at home with the little syringing kit I bought on Amazon. My surgery won't do syringing anymore either.

Specsavers charge £50. Went there a couple of months ago.

The Specsavers near me don’t offer the service. Had it done privately - £65 for both ears. Hearing much improved!

My father has to have his ears cleaned out every 6 months or so, and his GP stopped doing it some time ago. Not sure why. He now pays £50 for one ear. It’s another example of the creeping privatisation of the health service. I worry about where it will end.
For those who do it themselves, is there not a risk of you damaging your ears?

My annual appointment at the local hospital for micro suction was cancelled by them twice last year. I had a phone appt with the ENT team on Friday and was told I would hear shortly about my next appointment and a letter arrived today with an appointment in mid December. Plenty of time for it to be cancelled again.
I was told by an ENT consultant never to let anyone do anything other than microsuction the wax. My mum used to use a hair grip to get ours out. It was all caught in the bend in the middle. Yuk!

Sadly no longer recommended! It was sheer bliss when you went in completely deaf and suddenly there would be a sshhhh and you could hear a pin drop! Luckily I haven’t needed their services since last time.

no. I was told that there are places in town that do wax removal for£60.

DH had his done at our local surgery three weeks ago after the olive oil treatment. DD at the height of the pandemic had excruciating earache but couldn’t get to see a doctor or anyone else. She tried ear candles (not recommended), olive oil that did nothing then bicarbonate of soda and warm water. The recipe can be found online. It dissolved the earwax, the earache went with no side effects.

I had mine done only once, about 10 years ago, when our GP was already saying it could cause damage. I’d to wait for weeks until I couldn’t hear a blessed thing. DH, on the other hand, has his done at the same surgery every couple of years, without anything being said about possible damage. He last went in April, after a week of putting in warm olive oil.

After reading all these posts I realise how lucky I am to have a very local to me nurse who does ear wax removal from her home. This is also her ‘day job ‘ . Presumably she bought the micro suctioning equipment when she realised the demand there was for her services. I was charged £30 for one ear and it would be £40 for 2.
My problem is that my hearing aid, which is just for a mild hearing loss but also helps a lot with constant tinnitus, is not giving me the same benefit. Now as I’m so new to it the problem could be user error but the local hospital who supplied the heating aid will not see me at all.
I really don’t understand the Covid do’s and don’ts. I can have a cervical smear and breast mammogram but a quick check of my hearing aid is a big NO. Grrr

DH went to our local hospital very recently to have his new hearing aids set up, thus the removal of earwax! Seems it depends on what your local hospital’s policy is, not on what is possible.

I have very narrow ear canals and have needed regular syringing from the age of 16.
Now the surgery has stopped doing it. The excuses vary according to who you speak to. The main excuse is covid. Apparantly they are in danger of covid from the water used when syringing. I pointed out that dentists and hairdressers are managing to work.
The other excuse is that the government has banned GP surgery's from doing it.
I eventually went to a private audiologist who was very good but cost me £50. By then the blockage was making me feel ill.
She told me that the government has stopped funding for syringing but GP practices are still allowed to do it.
I feel really sorry for anyone who can't afford to pay.

Our surgery used to do it but I think they stopped 2-3 years ago. Now they will refer people to a clinic to have it done on NHS but there is a wait of up to 2 months. GP advises people to pay the £50-60 to have it done privately. My sister did just that. She used ear drops for a few days and then went and had them flushed out with warm water.

Years ago now my GP advised me to get a pharmacist to supply a dropper filled with a solution of bicarbonate of soda, and to apply it for a few days. It worked and my ears did not need syringing afterwards.

OH is a great believer in Hopi ear candles, Her person charges £30 for doing both ears.
When collecting latest hearing aids, the Audiologist said that right ear was down because of ear wax, and to use oil.

The Bi carb drops were useless, but several fill ups with olive oil seem to have done the trick.
Has anyone tried these suction gadgets advertised in the brochures that come with papers and magazines?

I once enquired about a private hearing aid and was invited for a consultation. I'd been using wax softening drops for about 3 weeks.
After some concentrated hard selling, the salesman (that's what he was, he had no medical knowledge) used a tiny hoover to suck out the wax (already softened by my drops) and showed it to me.
Ugh!
However, it occurred to me that maybe - just maybe - this was one way around it.
The private aids were way beyond my means so it was quite easy for me to 'go home and think about it', but if there's a chance you'll be tempted to buy one of their over priced devices - stay away from these salesmen.
They cost £thousands.

Both ears became blocked during lockdown. I bought a syringe kit from Amazon and successfully and easily unblocked both ears with the water method, carefully following the clear instructions.
I have no idea if our surgery still offer this treatment, however, should my ears block in the future, I will use the kit again.

I can't because it brings on an attack of my vertigo.

What is your kit called?

Please think about sharing your experiences here:-

rnid.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/take-action-if-nhs-ear-wax-removal-services-arent-available-in-your-area/

The kit I bought on Amazon is ACU-LIFE Deluxe Ear Cleanser.

I have been suffering from one ear being blocked for a while, it make me feel very unbalanced. My partner has a device he has used well on himself and he will help me after work today.
My optician will do it, but he charges £99

Witzend

I don’t think they do it at our GP any more.
Dh had his done (I think by suction) at Specsavers, about £50 IIRC. Not all branches do it though.

Yes, it's £55 for one ear or two at Specsavers, and no wax no fee!

My ear can hear again. His device was a little pink thing with a ballon bit on one end and a thin syringe. He filled it with warm water and kept washing till wax came out. Apparently you can get these on Amazon. You can do it yourself ( he did) but it is a lot easier if someone else does as it takes 3 hands to do it including holding the bowl under your ear

Finally got DH to go to the GP yesterday with a painful knee and poor hearing.

Looked in his ears, one full of dried wax, couldn’t see eardrum, the other not quite as bad but not good.

Told him to put olive oil in, they no longer do syringing, ‘not recommended’. Code for ‘Not paid to do this anymore?’

Have started with the olive oil, then will sort out getting them cleaned privately.

The painful knee is another story.