Ear Wax Removal Aberdeen

An appointment to have ear cleaning/earwax removal costs £50. We also offer home visits within Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire - get in touch to find out more.

Patients suffering from a build-up of earwax are not entitled to have their ears syringed (same as irrigation)/suctioned/cleaned on the NHS in Scotland, the Scottish government has confirmed. It is not one of the core services GPs are obliged to provide, and therefore this was phased out across many medical practices in Scotland. Those that still did provide the service before the Covid 19 pandemic were forced to stop due, and as such many did not re-start the service.

Not all local GP practice surgeries do. (Almost none provide this service, but some still do, but to registered patients at their practice).

This service was traditionally provided in General Practice (GP) surgeries, however, there are various reasons as to why this service was stopped, including concerns over safety of the procedure. Evidence shows that the traditional method of syringing can be unsafe and was agreed that unsafe methods should not be provided. In particular if you have a perforated eardrum, carrying out ear syringing (also called ear irrigation) can lead to further problems.

Signs and symptoms of a blockage may include:

• Cough
• Decreased hearing in the affected ear (hearing loss)
• Dizziness
• Earache
• Feeling of fullness in the affected ear
• Ringing or noises in the ear (tinnitus)
• Vertigo

If you have impacted symptoms, your clinician will likely advise microsuction treatment. If you don’t have this or any symptoms, we would only charge an examination fee.

The most common cause of impactation is the use of cotton buds or cotton swabs, amongst other things such as pins, rolled napkin corners. These methods are likely to remove superficial wax but to also open the ear canal wider and pushes the wax deeper. Hearing aids and earplugs are also more prone to causing an earwax blockage.

It is most often amber orange to light brown. It is often wet and sticky. For some, it is lighter in colour and can be drier. Generally, the colour has to do with the age of the earwax and how dry it is. Newer ear wax will often be lighter in colour and it darkens as it ages and pick up more debris.

Very minimal side effects if any. With any procedure, there can be some side effects. With the microsuction method the main complaint is the noise of the device within the ear canal and sometimes a little discomfort when the wax is very hard and combined with hair.

At Deeside Ear Care we are one of the best, most experienced microsuction ear wax removal specialists. Our Ear Cleaning Clinic in Aberdeen utilises primarily microsuction for fast and safe wax removal.

All our consultations and services in Aberdeen use state of the art surgical grade ENT-microscopes and equipment. Our clinicins are highly experienced trained healthcare professionals.

This is a technique for removing earwax using a microscope (which allows depth-perception and magnification). This allows the clinician to look in the ear canal in great detail and use a very fine sterile gentle suction device at low pressure to remove the wax. This process is not dissimilar to using a tiny vacuum cleaner inside the ear. Occasionally we may need to use other instruments to remove hard wax (such as Jobson Horne probes or micro forceps).

Earwax is a natural lubricant and antibacterial material produced by sebaceous glands within the ear canal.

Unlike most other ear clinics, our services are only performed by either highly experienced healthcare professional nurses or pharmacists.

This varies between people. Some are unlucky and develop a lot of wax in their ears, with subsequent blockage (as often as every 3-6 months). In patients with hearing aids, it is recommended to clear the ear every 4-6 months if there is a proneness to a build-up impairing the function of the hearing aid. It is recommended that you use olive oil frequently to help prevent an earwax build up.

When performed by an experienced clinician the procedure is unlikely to be painful. The main issue that patients notice is the sound of the suction probe which is reasonably quick to become accustomed to. We use extra fine tips for suction of wax very close to the drum, in order to avoid excessive exposure to noise.

If you suffer with infection of the outer ear then the infection itself could be uncomfortable and so micro suction of the infected ear can be painful. However, microsuction of infected debris and wax from the external ear is the most effective treatment for external ear infection (otitis externa), along with antibiotic drop usage if the cause is bacterial. You can help reduce some of the discomfort by taking your preferred painkiller an hour prior to attending your earwax removal appointment.

Ear blockage can be caused by a build up of fluids, ear infections, foreign objects, loud sounds, severe changes in air pressure, trauma. We've even had someone in that had an ear candling treatment but needed a professional service using the likes of microsuction instead. (To clarify - we would never recommend such treatments known as hopi ear candles, ear candling or any ear wax candles near me). A ruptured ear drum can make your ears even more vulnerable to infections which may further block eustachian tubes.

If wax touches the ear drum, it can be fairly painful and also can muffle hearing (even with hearing aids). There are various different products that claim to help remove wax such as candles, ear vacuums, oils, solutions and syringes. They may help remove some of the wax, but quite often they actually make the problem worse and in some cases can damage the ear canal or eardrum!

Our Aberdeen clinic does offer hearing care services, in the form of hearing screening tests (hearing test to detect for hearing loss). This can be particularly useful to have carried out after a clinic visit for earwax removal, to obtain a true reading of how good your hearing is. From this hearing test, we can provide a copy of the test result graph which can be sent to your local Medical Practice doctor who can then refer to audiology if hearing aids are required. Contact us today to book in for our Aberdeen hearing services!