Home Ear Examination

Ear Exam, Home

What To Think About

• Some home otoscopes use sound waves that bounce off the eardrum to detect fluid in the middle ear (otitis media with effusion).
• Earwax (cerumen) is a normal protective secretion of the ear canal. Earwax normally drains by itself, and cleaning the outside of the ear is all that is necessary. Never clean your ear canals with cotton swabs, hairpins, paper clips, or your fingernail, which may damage the canal or eardrum and can push the wax farther into the canal. For information on how to remove earwax, see the topic Earwax.

Regardless of what you see with a otoscope, call your health professional if you or your child has:

• Severe ear pain, especially if your child has a fever.
• Sudden hearing loss.
• Dizziness.
• An inability to move the muscles on one side of the face (facial nerve paralysis).
• Persistent ringing in one or both ears.
• Drainage from one or both ears.

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Author:	Monica Rhodes	Last Updated: April 30, 2007
Medical Review:	Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine Donald R. Mintz, MD - Otolaryngology
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