For mild to moderate amounts of earwax buildup, you can clean your ears with a hydrogen peroxide solution at home. Clinical practitioners recommend the practice of using hydrogen peroxide for cleaning your ears outside of the clinical setting. Regular cleaning prevents hard wax buildup, responsible for trapping bacteria in the inner ear and causing ear infections. Regularly cleaning your ears at home has economical benefits, too.
Step 1
Pull your hair back and cover your head with a towel or hat. This prevents hair lightening or discoloring from the bleaching properties of peroxide. Alternatively, you can apply petroleum jelly on the hair strands around your ear.
Step 2
Lay down on your left side. You may use a pillow, but choose a flat or low loft pillow to keep your head level so your ear is parallel to the ceiling. A small tilt is fine, but keeping your head level allows the hydrogen peroxide to penetrate deeper and prevents drainage from coming out of the ear.
Step 3
Using the cap as a measuring tool, pour 1 capful of hydrogen peroxide into your right ear. You should experience fizzing or popping sounds, and you may feel a deep itch inside of your ear. This is the hydrogen peroxide working, breaking down wax buildup, so do not touch inside your ears or interrupt treatment because of the discomfort.
Step 4
Soak the hydrogen peroxide in your ear for 20 minutes. Stay in your resting position and allow the solution to work. The fizz and popping sounds may become less frequent or intense after a few minutes, and this pattern may continue as time passes--especially in cases of mild wax buildup.
Step 5
Rise from your resting position and empty the peroxide solution from your ear. Hold a bowl or towel under your ear as the solution drains. If you're using a towel, don't press the towel too tight against your ear. Some pieces or chucks of wax may still come loose as the solution runs out.
Step 6
Wipe the outer ear with a towel, including the back of the ear. Behind the ear, there is a crevice between the skin on the head and the skin on the ear. Clean the crevice with a cotton ball soaked in hydrogen peroxide.
Step 7
Repeat the process on the left ear, resting on your right side. Cover the pillow with a towel in case of more drainage coming out from the right ear. If you have chunks of wax coming out of the ear as you empty the solution, wait an hour before repeating the same cleaning process on the left ear.
Things You'll Need
- 3 to 4 percent hydrogen peroxide solution
- Towel
- Bowl
- Cotton Balls
References
- Cheryl Myers (disability advocate at Social Services)
- Hydrogen peroxide safe for most
