Ear Blockage / Wax Blockage

There are many causes for blocked ear. These may range from infection, inflammation, foreign body or even tumors. The commonest cause is wax accumulation in the ear.

One of the causes of ear blockage is ear wax, also called cerumen. Cerumen has been taken from the word 'Cera' meaning wax in Latin.

The glands present in the outer canal of the ear secrete wax. Wax being sticky helps in trapping dust and other foreign particles and prevents them from entering the delicate regions of the ear.

Nature has designed the ear in such a marvelous fashion that a natural process of cleaning and elimination of waste takes place inside the ear. The stale ear wax is methodically conveyed from the ear canal to the opening of the ear, where it dries up along with the accumulated foreign particles and falls out.

The ears get blocked, when wax gets lodged deep inside the ear canal; this mostly happens when we employ external objects to clean the ear that actually pushes the wax deep into the ear canal.

Ear aches are like headaches. The most common and immediately used remedy for a earache is to use ear drops. However, this method is not safe, especially without ascertaining the cause of the problem. If there is a perforation or a hole in the ear membrane (tympanic membrane) it may result in infection from the outer ear traveling into the middle ear.