What to do if your baby has loose earwax

Most people's earwax is dry, but some people's earwax is very thin, like some that have been soaked in water, and it has become liquid and solid paste. This kind of earwax smells particularly bad, similar to the feeling of body odor, and it often occurs in children's ears. The main reason for its formation is sexual secretion, coupled with excessive sebum secretion, so it appears.

Causes

Normally, people's ear canal secretions - earwax (medically known as "cerumen") are dry and become crumbs or slightly yellowish scabs, which are called dry cerumen. This is a mixture of secretions from the cerumen glands in the skin of the ear canal and the desquamated epithelium of the external auditory canal. Sebaceous glands secrete oily sebum, which lubricates the skin and acts as a sticky barrier for foreign objects such as insects.

Oily earwax is determined by genes. Some people have extra secretion from cerumen glands and sebaceous glands, which secrete a brown, oily and sticky substance. The substance accumulates in the outer part of the ear before it dries. Some even flow out of the ear, and some condense into clumps. These are collectively called soft earwax, commonly known as "oily ears", and are called oily earwax in medicine.

The occurrence of "oily ears" is related to race and ethnicity. According to statistics, the Ainu people account for 100%, while whites and Caucasians account for 90%. The Mongolian rate is 20%, the Japanese rate is below 20%, and the Han Chinese rate is the lowest, at 5-7%.

Cleaning your baby's earwax requires two steps

The first step is to give your baby 1-2 drops of ear drops before he goes to bed. While the drops are being applied, you should have your baby lie in bed or hold him on your lap with his head turned sideways with the healthy ear at the bottom and the diseased ear at the top. After the medicine is dripped in, let the child maintain this position for 2 minutes to allow the earwax to be fully diluted.

The second step is to put an earplug made of sterilized cotton ball into the baby's diseased ear. Remove the earplugs the next day. Earwax may stick to them and be removed from the ear canal.

If the above methods do not work, then you should go to the hospital to seek medical help. The doctor will wear an otoscope to "reconnoiter" the baby's ears, estimate the amount of earwax and the degree of blockage in the ear canal, and then use a syringe to inject warm water into the baby's ears to flush out the earwax. The entire flushing process may make the baby feel a little uncomfortable, but it will not cause pain to the baby, nor will it hurt the baby's ear canal and eardrum. It is very safe.