Quote from an ear, nose and throat text: “Injury to the ear is frequent with ear syringing,usually because insufficient care is taken in its execution”.
If there is an ear canal cleaning service available using a microscope/suction (and fully trained staff) then that is the preferred method for the safe and comfortable removal of wax from an ear canal. Best practice is to give clients an informed choice if both services are available before syringing is performed.
Often medical personnel performing the procedure:
The negative effects of syringing can lead to complications later, largely unnoticed by health professionals.
Dead skin is often left in the canal after the wax has been dissolved with the water.
If skin of the ear remains wet (or gets wet from a shower/swim) it becomes a ready home for infection, either acute or chronic.
If a person is experiencing:
If you are still going to go through with the syringing procedure, the ear canal contents must softened first. If not, big hard plugs can be water blasted down the ear canal which causes blockage, and make even be forced against the eardrum creating injury and/or discomfort. Pharmacies now sell a wide range of wax softening drop, cooking oil is often used too.
We have seen a frail elderly lady who had been squirted 48 times in one ear then sent out to drive home on her own to her empty house while in extreme distress with severe vertigo and nausea.
Unfortunately, ear drum perforations can easily happen to areas of an eardrum with previous perforations/damage while syringing. this is why it is an unsafe practice.