Sulfur plugs in a child - symptoms and treatment, photos and videos

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Published: 02/01/2020

1 Wax plug in the ear: causes, symptoms, removal methods, rinsing and prevention, photo
2 How is wax plug formed?
3 Reasons for the formation of sulfur plugs
4 Possible complications
5 Help at home
6 How to quickly remove wax plug?
7 Procedures in the clinic
8 Prevention measures

How to determine that a child has traffic jams?

It is important to identify that the baby has ear problems.
An ordinary person without medical education will not be able to see the black plug. But besides visual examination, there are other signs that a child has a similar problem. It should be said that it is better to get rid of this disease quickly. Since the vestibular apparatus is located in the ear, disruption of its functioning can affect other areas of the baby’s activity. Traffic jams also impair hearing. And this has a negative impact on the child.

What is earwax

Earwax is part of the ear's natural defense mechanism.
This is the name of the substance that is produced by the sulfur glands located in the skin of the external auditory canal. It mixes with dead skin cells, and the output is a yellowish sticky substance, which consists of keratin - up to 60%, fatty acids and alcohols - up to 20%, cholesterol - up to 9%. This composition makes sulfur an ideal defense against external intrusion. The substance has the following properties:

antibacterial - thanks to fatty alcohols and acids that create an unbearable environment for microbes;
water-repellent - the same fatty acids are responsible for this;
moisturizing - the oily layer protects the skin of the ear canal from drying out;
catching - the sticky texture of wax traps dirt, insects, even fungi and bacteria that accidentally enter the ear.

Normally, wax and all the “invaders” it catches are removed from the ear on its own. This occurs due to the movements of the temporomandibular joint when we chew or talk. It slowly moves towards the exit of the ear canal and eventually falls out of it (by the way, this is the reason why you should wash your ear regularly).

However, this is not always the case.

Plugs in a child’s ears: what to do, how to remove them at home

If you plan to act independently, the following recommendations will help you:

You should not try to remove ear wax in children using sharp objects such as a needle and tweezers. These instruments can cause harm to the child’s body, namely damage the skin or pierce the membrane.
You should also avoid using cotton swabs, as they can accidentally push the plug deeper into the ear opening. And getting it from there will be problematic.
To remove the plug at home, it is recommended to purchase special preparations at the pharmacy. Then put the child on his side, drop the medicine into the ear, and leave it for a certain time. Next, you need to put the baby on the other side. The plug should come out along with the medicine.

There is another gentle method of extraction. It is necessary to heat the vegetable oil in a water bath and instill it in the ears for several days. After a certain time, the plug will move away from the ear. If this treatment method does not help, you should consult a doctor. It will help clean your ears. A child's wax plug can also be removed using hydrogen peroxide by instilling it into the diseased ear canal for several days.
You can remove the plug using a compress. A mixture is made of grated garlic and warm camphor oil in equal proportions. A gauze strip is soaked in this mixture. Next, it is placed in the ear opening for several minutes. Then she pulls out. The wax plug in the child's ear should go away. You should know that the baby will experience a burning sensation. This method of removing the cork belongs to folk medicine. Therefore, it is better to consult a doctor whether it is worth using it or not. It may be better to use more gentle methods of treatment. After the procedure, the ear should be rinsed.

These treatment methods require sterility. You should also be extremely careful when carrying out such procedures.

Wax plugs in a child's ears most often form as a result of excessive hygiene.

In the early stages, accumulations can be removed using folk remedies or medications, but large seals must be removed instrumentally.

Wax plugs do not disappear on their own and can cause complications, so if there is no result, it is recommended to consult a specialist.

A sulfur plug is an accumulation of sebum, epidermal particles and sulfur. At first the mass is soft, but gradually becomes hard due to the evaporation of the liquid.

In rare cases, rocky plugs are encountered. A seal forms in the area of the external auditory canal at the natural bend.

The plug appears as a yellow, orange, or dark brown accumulation of secretion containing skin particles.

The main cause of traffic jams is a violation of the self-cleaning mechanism. Normally, the ear glands, which are located near the external auditory canal, produce 15-20 mg of sulfur per month.

The skin in the hearing organs, as it grows, slowly moves the secretion towards the shell. Additionally, cleansing is facilitated by the movement of cilia - small hairs inside the ear.

During talking or chewing, internal vibrations help move the wax.

Impaired self-cleaning may be associated with anatomical abnormalities, increased secretion formation, or external interference:

Incorrect care. During procedures, sulfur is pushed inside, mixed with skin particles and gradually accumulates.
Individual structural features. Excessive bending can cause a plug, which interferes with natural cleansing.
Increased secretion.
Diseases of the hearing organs.
Incorrect or frequent use of earplugs, hearing aids or headphones. Materials push sulfur deeper or help remove it. The devices rub the skin and cause peeling and increased secretion.
Increased hair growth in the ear canal. It is more common in older people, but is sometimes seen in children.
Skin diseases. The most dangerous pathologies are those that cause increased peeling.
Prolonged stay in a dusty room.
Entry of a foreign body.
Low humidity.

In children, sulfur plugs form extremely rarely without outside intervention. This is due to the relatively small number of cilia in the ear canal and normal secretion. The most common causes of pathology are ear diseases, improper care, or the use of accessories.

Symptoms

In the early stages there are no symptoms. This is due to incomplete closure of the channel. An adult child may notice hearing loss, but most often there are no complaints. Manifestations occur when the seal blocks the lumen by 70% or more.

The following symptoms are observed in pathology:

Extraneous noise and congestion.
The echo of one's own voice, headache, dry cough and nausea. Signs appear when the nerve endings are slightly damaged.
Partial paralysis of the facial nerve, epileptic seizures and arrhythmia. Manifestations occur when nerve fibers are severely damaged.

Manifestations intensify after hygiene procedures or swimming due to exposure to water. Liquid leads to an increase in sulfur plug.

Sometimes the lump moves closer to the inner membrane, which can cause nervous system symptoms.

It is difficult to diagnose a baby yourself based on the symptoms of the disease. Often wax plugs are mistaken for neurological pathologies. Children older than one year may pay increased attention to the problem area. They try to remove the plug on their own due to a feeling of stuffiness; they may make sudden head movements and scratch the auricle.

If symptoms are severe and nerve endings are damaged, you should not try to remove the wax plug yourself. In the process, the parent may accidentally introduce an infection or push the lump forward. This will worsen the child's condition. If the manifestations are limited to congestion and extraneous noise, first aid may be provided if there is an accurate diagnosis.

You can clean the ear using rinses, folk remedies or medications. The cork can only be removed if it is soft. Solid accumulations are treated using special means and removed with tools.

You should consult an ENT doctor if you experience symptoms from the nervous system. This indicates the close location of the cork to the membrane, the large size of the accumulation and its hard consistency.

Only a specialist can remove such a seal. If the parent removes the plug on his own, he may damage the nerve endings or eardrum.

This will lead to complications, severe pain and hearing impairment.

Be sure to consult a doctor in cases where complications develop. When a bacterial infection is attached, there is a risk of developing an abscess and penetration of pathogens into the brain in the future. Without adequate help, a traffic jam can be fatal.

In other cases, the parent can help independently, but it is recommended to use the services of a specialist. The doctor will remove the plug taking into account the identified circumstances (anatomical features, large amount of hair), eliminate the cause in the presence of primary pathology and give preventive recommendations. This is important for frequent relapses.

Removal methods

There are several ways to remove a blockage. In most cases, they prefer the use of medications and rinsing, since these methods are gentle. Sometimes you have to remove the seal using tools. Most often, the methods are combined to obtain the best result.

Instrumentally

First, an examination is performed using an otoscope. During the process, the specialist evaluates the consistency of the formation and the condition of the eardrum.

If the accumulation is mild, the doctor can immediately rinse it using a special syringe. If necessary, aspiration is used to remove residual sulfur using an electric suction.

There is an additional method for removing plugs - curettage. It involves removing the formation using tweezers and a hook. This method is traumatic, therefore it is used only in cases where it is impossible to remove the cork using softening for some reason.

Medication

To soften and further remove sulfur plugs, it is customary to use cerumenolytics. The advantages of ear drops include fast action and the absence of side effects.

The drugs do not cause an increase in the plug, which prevents hearing loss and pain.

As a result of softening, in most cases the accumulations come out of the cavity on their own naturally, but additional rinsing may be necessary.

Sometimes ear candles are used to remove growths. Before using the product, the patient should lie on his side. A funnel soaked in wax is inserted into the affected ear. The top is covered with a napkin with a hole for a candle. The end of the funnel is set on fire.

When the mark is reached, the candle is removed and extinguished. It is believed that heat changes the pressure in the ear, causing the plugs to push out on their own. However, there is no conclusive scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of wax funnels.

Before using wax funnels, be sure to obtain individual medical advice.

Folk remedies

At home, oil-based or water-based solutions are most commonly used to remove buildup. The former improve the glide of formations without increasing their size. With hard plugs, this can lead to deeper penetration of the masses and damage to the mucous membranes. Water-based preparations soften the formations, but increase their size.

Now we need to consider the symptoms that occur with congestion. Until the plug completely blocks the passage, no symptoms will occur. If water gets into the ear, the plug can close the passage, and then the problem will make itself felt.

You will feel an unpleasant sensation, as if something is bothering your ear.
Hearing decreases sharply.
If the plug is very hard, it puts pressure on the ear. As a result, headaches, nausea, dizziness, otitis media, and neuritis occur.
If the plug is not removed for a long time, inflammation of the middle ear may occur.
Atrophy - when you hear your own voice in the ear.

If the plug occurs in children, they may periodically complain of pain that occurs in the ear, ringing and noise. Babies may also scratch their ears frequently. But it is worth noting that if a child often asks again, does not hear the call of his parents, or may flinch when someone appears nearby, then you need to pay attention to this.

Possible complications

Plugs in the ears cause a lot of discomfort to the patient and, in the absence of timely treatment, can cause serious hearing problems. The accumulation of increased amounts of sulfur in the hearing organ can cause the development of the following complications:

Bedsores of the ear canal are accompanied by severe pain and require long-term treatment;
 Earwax is considered an ideal environment for the proliferation of bacteria, which is why inflammatory processes develop in the organ.

In addition, sulfur plugs can provoke hearing impairment and chronic rhinitis. In addition, you should avoid using cotton swabs and various sharp objects. If a child is prone to the appearance of wax plugs, he should be shown to a specialist at least once every six months. At the first signs of ear inflammation, you should consult a doctor, because timely treatment of the pathology allows you to avoid hearing problems.

How to fight

There are many ways you can remove ear plugs.

Washing

The most common method is rinsing. This procedure is quite easy to carry out. The doctor takes a 100 ml syringe and fills it with water. The water should be warm. The jet should be directed to the upper back wall of the ear. A lot of wax will spill out, so you need to place a container under your ear. In some cases, it may not be possible to get the cork out the first time if it is thick enough.

You can use regular peroxide, you can also use a mixture of soda and glycerin. You need to take half a gram of soda, glycerin and 10 ml of water. You need to drip 3 drops 2 times a day, or 3 times. A repeat visit to the doctor should be successful. Don't be alarmed if you experience difficulty hearing after instillation.

Follow the link to read how to properly place drops in your ears.

“Dry” method

The next medical method for ear plug removal is called “dry”. This method is used on those people who cannot be washed. This group of people includes those who have had a perforated eardrum. In this case, the doctor will use a special hook to remove wax.

Many children may not allow the ear to be rinsed. Therefore, medications have been specially developed for them that can dissolve the plug. The dissolution process is called cerumenolysis. The most famous drug in these circles is A-Cerumen. The course of treatment with this medicine is from 3 to 5 days.

It is necessary to instill the drug several times a day. To properly instill A-Cerumen, you need to lie sideways on your healthy ear. Now you need to drop drops, about half the bottle, which is 1 ml. You need to lie down with the drops in your ear for about a minute and a half. After this, you need to turn in the other direction, substitute some container and let the sulfur and medicine flow out. At the end of the procedure, rinse your ear with warm water.

But there are a number of contraindications for this drug:

perforation in the membrane;
a shunt in the membrane, which is made surgically;
within six months to a year bypass surgery was performed;
Children under 2.5 years of age are not recommended to use the drug;
intolerance to any components included in the medicine.

This remedy does not help all people, that is, the plug does not completely dissolve. It is completely effective for 25% of people. In other cases, a visit to the doctor is necessary.

Traditional methods

How to get rid of a plug in your ear

If you are sure that it is a wax plug and not a more serious disease, try to deal with it at home.

Chew vigorously

Chewing gum, or just work your jaws. Working your joints will help push the plug towards the exit. Or at least change its shape: this will help relieve pain caused by the pressure difference before and after the plug.

Pharmacy drops for traffic jams contain substances that help soften and remove sulfur (for example, allantoin). Use drops according to instructions.

If you don’t have pharmaceutical products on hand, you can use homemade ones:

hydrogen peroxide;
almond, olive, baby oil;
glycerol;
camphor or vaseline oil, heated in a water bath to body temperature.

Lie down with your head turned so that the affected ear is pointing upward, drip 2-3 drops of the product and stay in this position for a couple of minutes. Then stand up and tilt your head so that the oil or liquid can flow out. Repeat this procedure twice a day until the plug disappears. This may take up to two weeks.

Attention! You can bury your ears only if you are sure that you do not have a ruptured eardrum.

This is the fastest and most effective way. The doctor will rinse the ear or (if rinsing is contraindicated for some reason) remove the plug with a special probe with a hook. Such manipulations take literally a few minutes.

What to do in this or that situation?

If a child has ear plugs, you should understand the cause of their origin and rule it out. If improper care is carried out, then it needs to be changed. If you have special ear physiology, you should consult your doctor about what kind of prevention should be carried out. It is necessary to install a humidifier in rooms with dry air.

It is not always possible to see wax plug visually. Often only a professional can determine its presence. There are certain symptoms that a child has blockages in the ear canals.

What does wax plug look like?

The formation of sulfur is a normal functioning of the glands in every person. The fats in its composition perform protective and antiseptic functions, preventing the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms and waterlogging of the ear area.

A sulfur plug, formed as a result of the above reasons, is a conglomerate of dried mucus of a viscous consistency, mixed with dead particles of the epidermis, in the external auditory canal.

Types of sulfur plugs:

pasty - soft, light or dark with a yellowish tint;
plasticine - have a brown color and the consistency of plasticine;
hard – dark brown or black, dry and hard;
epidermoidal - contains sulfur, skin particles and pus as a result of the inflammatory process in the ears, has a stone density.

Signs

Let's look at the main symptoms of this disease:

The first sign that your baby has ear plugs is hearing problems. The peculiarity of this phenomenon is that the baby himself cannot determine in any way that he has become hard of hearing. But such a violation can be noticed from the outside. Firstly, the child will not respond to the call. Secondly, if a sound occurs unexpectedly, the baby will not pay any attention to it. It is also possible that you may ask again.
As a rule, after bathing, a child who has wax plugs has blocked ears. This is due to the fact that when water gets in, the cork swells and becomes larger in volume. The large size of the plug seals the ear opening.
When a child has traffic jams, he may feel dizzy.
Nausea may occur.
Headaches occur from ear plugs.
Cough is also a consequence of congestion in the hearing organ.
The baby may say that his ears are ringing or there is some noise.

A parent sometimes notices that a child has a plug. It has a yellow or black color.

Symptoms of pathology

Over a long period of time, a child with a plug in the ear may not cause the appearance of characteristic symptoms. Most often this happens in a situation where it fills the ear canal by less than 70%. The main cause of swelling of sulfur and complete obstruction of the external auditory canal with sulfur masses is the ingress of water into the hearing organ during bathing. In this case, the following characteristic signs may appear:

ringing and noise in the ears;
 discomfort in the ear;
 autophony;
 itching of the external auditory canal.

A characteristic manifestation of wax in the ear is decreased hearing, although the child may not feel this for a long time. Parents can notice such a pathology by various changes in the child’s behavior, that is, he stops responding to calls, often asks again and gets scared when adults appear in the room. A clear symptom of a wax plug in a child’s ear can be the child’s constant restlessness and desire to touch or scratch the organ.

In a situation where the site of wax plug formation in the ear becomes the bone part, and it puts pressure on the eardrum, the following symptoms may appear:

headache;
dizziness;
nausea;
 headache.

In rare cases, the accumulation of sulfur secretions in the organ of hearing causes cardiac dysfunction and paralysis of the facial nerve.

Causes

5 main reasons have been identified:

The viscosity of sulfur is greatly increased. Now there is no exact answer to the question of why the viscosity is increased. It can be assumed that there is not enough fluid in the body. This may also be influenced by genetic predisposition. But a lot of experiments prove that if you drink water in the right amount, and still water, then the formation of traffic jams is minimized. In the photo there is a wax plug in the ear:
Dimensions of the ear canal. Depending on the diameter and depth, the formation of plugs depends. Of course, the longer and narrower the passage, the higher the likelihood of accumulation of sulfur mass.
Chewing movements. It would seem strange: how can the usual chewing process affect ear congestion. The thing is that during the chewing process, muscle contraction occurs. The ear canal sometimes expands and then contracts during chewing. And in the case of a narrow passage, viscous sulfur causes clogging of the ear. The probability is 90%.
Cholesterol levels. If it is high, then it has been noticed that the sulfur becomes thick.
Hair in the ears. If hair grows thickly and quickly, this often occurs in men in particular. But this also often happens in women with hormonal imbalance.
In children, excess sulfur can occur for other reasons. Many parents try to clean their child's ears, thinking that they get dirty too quickly. But just such excessive care can do harm. The body, feeling a lack of sulfur, tries to replenish it, which means it can produce excess. As a result, the child's ears suffer.
In addition to all these reasons, please note that you should not clean your ears with cotton swabs, you should only wash the shell itself, and you should not touch the ear canals.

The link tells you what to do if your ears become blocked after a cold.

Pathology cannot form just like that; a child’s body is necessarily affected by some negative factor. Doctors identify several main reasons that can lead to the formation of wax plugs in a child’s ears:

increased ear hygiene. Many parents overdo it when cleaning their baby's ears. Carrying out such manipulations too frequently is perceived by the body as a signal for increased sulfur production. Over time, the mass does not have time to be removed in time, forming a plug. The more often you clean your ear canal, the more likely you are to get into trouble. Clean your baby's ears no more than once a week;
use of cotton swabs. The manufacturer of the product never indicated on the packaging that cotton swabs can be used in this way. But people use them specifically for cleaning ears. Manipulations lead to the pushing of sulfur deep into the passages, blocking them;
dry air. Children react acutely to lack of humidity in the room. A negative factor can lead not only to the appearance of dry plugs in the ears, but also a runny nose, headache, and other troubles. The optimal humidity in the child’s room should be at least 60%;
anatomical features of the structure of the ears. Sometimes doctors notice narrow, tortuous ear canals and other features in children that interfere with the normal removal of wax. The problem is not considered a pathology; such ears simply require additional care;
genetic predisposition to excessive sulfur production. An individual trait is extremely rare and is inherited. If you have such a problem, carefully monitor the health of your children's ears;
diving, careless washing of the hair leads to a large amount of water getting into the ear hole. Sulfur swells, is poorly removed, and a plug forms over time;
the presence of foreign bodies in the ear canal. Children often stick small objects into their ears and nose. At first, the body does not cause any discomfort; if it is deep enough, it is not visible. Over time, wax accumulates in the ear and cannot be released, provoking an inflammatory process. You cannot remove the object yourself; in this case, medical assistance is required;
frequent use of headphones. Teenagers often suffer from this problem; they love listening to music. Constant mechanical pushing of wax deep into the ear canal leads to the appearance of a plug. The situation is aggravated by blockage of the passage.

Note to parents! If you find a problem, contact your doctor immediately and solve it as quickly as possible. Delaying the removal of sulfur plugs leads to a deterioration in the baby’s condition and sharply negative consequences.

Earwax is quite problematic to diagnose at home. Even if a lot of mass has accumulated, it may not give itself away.

The child feels discomfort only when the ear canal is completely blocked or hearing loss occurs. Often, unpleasant sensations appear after bathing; the water causes the plug to swell, and the ability to perceive external sounds is lost.

The following symptoms of wax plugs in the ears accompany the situation:

noise in the ear;
nausea (in rare cases);
feeling of bursting congestion;
dizziness, headache in the temples.

Some young patients complain that they hear echoes of their conversations in their ears. Pathology can negatively affect the functioning of the nervous system, heart, and the entire body as a whole. Hearing loss is not the most dangerous complication of untimely removal of the plug from the baby’s ear. After a thorough study of the consequences of sulfur formation, the question of its removal is more than relevant.

Find out the instructions for use of Biseptol suspension for children of different ages.

How to properly raise a child without yelling and punishment? The answer is on this page.

Classification

Depending on the “age”, consistency and color, wax plugs in the ears are classified as follows:

paste-like. It appeared not long ago and has a soft consistency. The mass is easily removed, often the cork is yellow;
plasticine. Doctors call it a slightly advanced stage, the sulfur acquires a brownish tint, and it is much more difficult to remove such a formation than a paste-like plug;
dry. Formed as a result of drying of sulfur, the color of the cork is closer to black. Removing the formation is quite difficult;
epidermal. The most advanced stage, it consists of dead skin particles, and the discharge of pus is often observed.

Diagnostics

Ear wax is often diagnosed by a pediatrician during a visual examination. Only an ENT specialist can definitively confirm the diagnosis. The doctor performs an otoscopy, carefully examines the stage of development of the pathology, and excludes the presence of other diseases (otomycosis, cholesteatoma, stuck foreign body).

At home, it is difficult to identify the cause of a plug in a baby’s ear. Only knowing the correct diagnosis is treatment at home allowed. Be sure to consult with a specialist first.

Treatment options

At an appointment with a specialist, the doctor can rid the baby of wax plugs using a special tool. The doctor pries up the formation and, with careful movements, pulls out the dense mass. At home, such manipulations are prohibited; there is a high risk of damage to the child’s delicate ear canal. You are allowed to use the correct folk methods described below on your own.

How to remove wax plug at home? To achieve quick results, adhere to the rules and strictly follow the instructions.

Hydrogen peroxide

This method is the most famous and has proven itself well. The procedure is easy to perform and shows good results. To remove wax plugs, use only 3% hydrogen peroxide; this concentration is the safest for the child’s delicate ear canal.

To remove the formation, lay the baby on one side and drop 3-4 drops of the product into the problem ear. Don’t be afraid of hissing or slight tingling; such a reaction is a completely normal process. Stop treatment only if the baby complains of severe pain or burning, and consult a doctor immediately.
If there are no side effects, you need to lie on your side for up to 15 minutes, then turn over on the other side. Wait until the hydrogen peroxide has completely drained out. To obtain the desired effect, several procedures over 2-3 days are sufficient. It is allowed to replace the remedy with Vaseline oil.

Important! You can’t get too carried away with cleaning your baby’s ear. Remember that sulfur performs a protective function; the body needs it in small quantities.

Special medications are rarely used for children. Many of them are prohibited for the treatment of young patients. Doctors recommend filling a syringe without a needle with a weak solution of furatsilin or ordinary boiled water. Point the device into the baby's ear and squeeze out the liquid.

Repeat the manipulations several times, in most cases the plug dissolves, the antiseptic disinfects the ear canal, preventing the occurrence of an inflammatory process. If this method does not help, use Remo-Vax or A-Cerumen drops; be sure to carefully read the instructions before use.

The product is prepared independently from natural ingredients: propolis, beeswax, herbs (chamomile, calendula, St. John's wort, oak bark), essential oils (eucalyptus, orange). A candle is an indispensable tool in a home medicine cabinet; it can be used by children and adults. In addition to eliminating sulfur plugs, the product has an analgesic, soothing, and antibacterial effect.

Method of preparation: take 100 grams of wax, add a decoction of herbs (30 grams), add 10 drops of propolis, 2-3 drops of each ester. Melt the resulting mass in a water bath, pour it into a special thin mold, let it harden, the candle is ready for use.

Treatment with a candle occurs in several stages:

squeeze a little baby cream onto your hands and massage the baby’s ear;
let the child lie on his side, with the sore ear up;
Place a small napkin on your ear and make a hole in it for the candle;
Place the lower end of the candle on the ear canal and set the upper end on fire. Let it burn for a few minutes, remove the device;
Clean the ear using gauze from the little finger of the ear canal.

To obtain the desired result, several sessions are enough.

When removing a wax plug from a baby’s ear, you should not pick it out with foreign objects or try to blow it out. Use the tips above or see a specialist.

Causes

Ear plugs occur in children of any age. Their occurrence is explained by several reasons:

improper ear hygiene;
increased release of sulfur;
narrow auditory canal;
water getting into the ears.

To prevent water from getting into your baby's ears when bathing, use special vests or sleeves to help your baby keep his head above the water.

Most often, plugs appear due to improper hygiene of the ear canal. The use of cotton swabs causes wax to be pushed inward, closer to the eardrum, where it gradually accumulates, blocking the ear canal. This can also be facilitated by the physiological features of the structure of the child’s ear, for example, a narrow or curved ear canal. In addition, the more often you clean your baby’s ears, the more intensely wax is produced. When water gets into the ear, the wax is washed out, which also leads to hypersecretion in the future. When bathing your child, make sure that water does not get inside the ear canal.

Prevention

It is necessary to properly care for your ears to avoid ear plugs:

First of all, you should wash your ears properly using a cotton swab. It needs to be moistened with water and cleaned the sink without penetrating into the opening.
There is a special ear charger. It ensures the removal of wax and involves pulling the ear lobe down. It is recommended to do such exercises daily.
It is better to use cotton swabs with a limiter. They are very comfortable because they do not penetrate deep into the ear canal.
If there is an increased risk of sulfur formation, it is recommended to use special products.
The indoor air should be humidified.
It is recommended to use earplugs when working in dusty environments.
It is also recommended to use earplugs when swimming in a pool or pond. They will help protect your hearing from water.

If you are prone to the formation of sulfur plugs, you need to visit an otolaryngologist more often.

By following these recommendations, you can avoid the occurrence of wax plugs.

Preventing the formation of wax plugs

Not every cause of earwax can be prevented, but the following rules will help prevent many of them:

proper and timely hygienic care of the ears;
Do not push a cotton swab deep into the ear canal when cleaning your ears, as you can damage the eardrum or push all the wax forward, which will make it difficult for it to come out;
Carry out ear canal hygiene no more than once a week;
adhere to the principles of rational nutrition regarding foods high in cholesterol;
for preventive purposes, use the above drops for workers in dusty production and people who enjoy water sports;
prevention of inflammatory ear diseases;
use special caps during water procedures;
Do not put any small objects into your ears, especially for small children.

The occurrence of wax plugs in the ears is a fairly common occurrence in both adults and children. Getting rid of this problem is not difficult for an experienced specialist. But if you delay in resolving this issue, dangerous pathologies may arise in the form of otitis media and hearing loss, so if you experience any discomfort in the ear area, seek help from a medical facility. This is especially true for parents, who should pay attention to any complaints their children have regarding their ears.