What should I do if my child's earwax becomes hard? Is it harmful if my child's earwax becomes hard?

What should we do when children's earwax becomes hard lumps? Let's introduce to you whether it is harmful for children's earwax to become hard lumps. Many adults like to pick earwax at home, but can babies do it? Today, let's talk about what should we do when children's earwax becomes hard lumps?

What to do if children's earwax becomes hard lumps

Earwax, medically known as cerumen, is the secretion of the cerumen glands on the skin of the external auditory canal. It is liquid and very sticky when it is secreted at first, and becomes small solid pieces after drying. Under normal circumstances, as the mouth continues to open and close, earwax will move outward and fall off by itself. If earwax forms a lump and causes obstruction of the external auditory canal, you should go to the hospital and ask an ENT doctor to treat it. Do not force your child to remove earwax at home.

Is it harmful for children to have hard earwax?

The earwax in the ear hole is caused by the cerumen of the ear endocrine system. It is normal for children to have a lot of hard earwax. Do not use anything to dig it out yourself, including your fingers. This can easily damage the skin of the ear canal, cause inflammation of the external ear canal, and even rupture the eardrum and cause otitis media. You can wipe the baby's external ear canal clean with a wet cloth. Insert a dry cotton swab into the baby's ear no more than 1 cm, and gently rotate it to absorb moisture and remove dirt. If necessary, you can go to the ENT department of the hospital for a doctor to help remove it. First, use 3-5% sodium bicarbonate solution to soften the earwax, once every 2 hours, and flush the earwax out with warm water after 3 days. If there is stenosis of the external auditory canal or acute or chronic suppurative otitis media, those who have improper treatment of acute suppurative otitis media, excessive bacterial toxicity, weak body resistance or complicated by mastoiditis, resulting in continuous pus discharge for more than 1 to 2 months, are called chronic suppurative otitis media. The incidence of this disease is relatively high. In recent years, a census of more than 1,000 primary school students in China showed that the incidence rate has changed to 0.5% to 4.3%. The incidence rate of farmers in Shandong, Henan and Guizhou provinces was 1.6%. A British survey found that the incidence rate among primary school students was 0.9%. Most patients are young and middle-aged, and it rarely occurs after the age of 40. Flushing cannot be used. If the earwax cannot be removed by flushing, the ear drops can be softened and then slowly sucked out with an aspirator.

What should you pay attention to when cleaning your ears?

1. Never use sharp objects such as hairpins, matchsticks, nails, iron ear spoons, etc. to clean your baby's ears.

2. Do not use adult cotton swabs, please use children's cotton swabs. Adult cotton swabs are too thick and large, and the baby's ear canal is narrow and shallow, so it is easy to poke earwax deeper and deeper, completely blocking the ear canal.

3. If the earwax is not very hard, you can use the corner of a wet towel or a cotton swab to gently rotate it in the baby's ear to remove the earwax.

4. If the earwax is hard and large, do not try to remove it forcefully by yourself, as this can easily hurt the baby. It is recommended that you go to the hospital for help from a professional doctor.