Elderly Care Tips: Dealing with Earwax
Elderly Care in Grand Rapids MI
Earwax is a normal and healthy part of the body. Comprised of a natural material called cerumen, earwax is part of your body’s way of being “self-cleaning.” This material protects the ear drum 
and lubricates the skin while also catching potentially dangerous contaminants such as dirt, dust, dead skin, and hairs so that they do not enter the body. In normal amounts, earwax usually does not cause any issues and simply leaves the body on its own by working its way up through the ear canal, drying, and falling out. For some people, however, earwax can become an uncomfortable issue that leads to problems such as itching, pain, dizziness, and other symptoms. Knowing how to handle earwax and the proper way to care for your loved ones’ ears is an important part of maintaining the hygiene element of your elderly care efforts, and helping protect your seniors from possible injury and illness.
Use these tips, and share them with your aging loved ones’ elderly health care services provider, to help you deal with earwax and ear health:
• Let the ears clean themselves. The body is designed to keep the ear clean all by itself. Chewing, swallowing, and talking all encourage old earwax to move forward in the ear where it can fall out on its own. If your parents are not dealing with an issue with their ears, do not feel the need to clean their ear canals. A basic wipe of the outer portion of the ears is sufficient to keep them clean and healthy.
• Be aware of problems. Sometimes issues do arise making it necessary to take a more aggressive stance in ear care. When the earwax does not get out of the ear and becomes stuck in front of the eardrum, impaction occurs. This can lead to serious problems. If your parents complain of a sense of fullness, pain, tightness, itching, partial hearing loss, or ringing, or you notice discharge or odor, there may be a problem and you should contact your parents’ doctor for an evaluation.
• Do not enter the canal. Do not be tempted to insert anything into the ear canal, including cotton-tipped swabs, dead skin removing tools, bobby pins, napkins, or towel corners. This could lead to or worsen earwax impaction, cause scrapes or cuts inside the ear canal that could lead to infection, or even put your parents at risk of a ruptured eardrum.
• Try home remedies. If your parents are bothered by excessive earwax or are coping with an impaction, there are several home remedies that they can try. A few drops of baby oil or glycerin can help to loosen or melt the wax, making it easy to “suck” it out using a specially designed ear syringe. If you are not comfortable performing this procedure, bring your loved ones to their doctor so that he can perform it for you.
• Do not use candles. For many years products called ear candles were extremely popular for the purpose of removing wax from the ears by lighting a candle in the ear and allowing it to draw out the wax. In recent years, however, physicians have warned against the use of these candles, citing extensive injuries including burns and wax from the candles getting stuck in the ears.
If you or someone you know needs help with elderly care services in Grand Rapids, MI, contact Gauthier Family Home Care. We provide quality and affordable home care services in our community. Call us at (616) 258-2300 for more information.
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