PSA: Beware the Waxy Ear Plugs
June 28, 2008
This is the actual brand that was lodged in my ear. You can use ‘em to block out stuff; just don’t expect to actually be able to remove them from your ears.
I feel that it’s my duty to inform you the inquisitive public about a very serious health concern and that is–waxy ear plugs. They’re the ones you can find in the “ear care” aisle at your local pharmacy for around 3 bucks. The silicon putty balls promise to keep water, even when swimming, our of your ear canals. What the packaging doesn’t say is that they do it by getting lodged INTO your ear canals.
Here I am trying to be a responsible human being and plugging my ears so I don’t get ear infections and what happens? The plug gets stuck in my ear! When I tried to remove the dang thing, it broke apart. No problem, I thought, I’ll just pull the rest out, except it wouldn’t come out. In fact, it wedged itself deeper into my ear just to defy me.
After a call to the after-hours answering service at the doctor’s office, I got an emergency appointment with a doctor I never met. I felt as silly as a little kid who stuck dried noodles up his nose. His car keys and sunglasses thrown onto the counter, he immediately got to work on that bad boy. After several minutes of flushing with water, tweezing, and scooping, the hard piece of silicon ear plug was removed from my ear. Hooray! Emergency room averted! Dr. Nameless is a hero! Oh, and he said this was the second time he was removing wax ear plugs from someone’s ear this year. It must be some sort of epidemic.
Now my ear seems a bit stuffy and it hurts. Besides being embarrassing, the whole procedure was unpleasant and a touch painful. All in all, that’s something I would like to avoid in the future, which is why I am warning you about the dangers of putting stuff in your ears. Even items that were made to put in your ears, like ear plugs, should not necessarily be used.
Truth be told, I’ve used these silicon things a bazillion times and never had any trouble until now. However, I have now purchased a sturdy set of Hearos, which I hope along with Swim-Ear can keep my ear canals free of water and infection.
And I thought the most difficult of part of swimming was wearing a bathing suit in public. Sigh.
I just wanted to add that my last visit to the E.R. was around this time last year when I got a garden rake prong lodged in my knee causing a puncture wound. Because my doctor’s office couldn’t squeeze me in, I had to go to the E.R. to get a tetanus shot. Ironically, this is the same doctor’s office that set a doctor in AFTER-HOURS to take care of me so I wouldn’t have to go the the E.R.
Amy Sondova is a writer specializing in media writing, including interviews and reviews, as well as blogging. Having interviewed over 30 of the top musicians, writers, and speakers in the Christian media, Amy has also written countless columns, reviews, and articles on various topics including mental illness, self-injury, working with teenagers, and Christianity. She lives with her best friend, Sarah, and has two dogs, a cockatiel, and a betta named General Tso.
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Well how dumb are you. You obviously didn’t bother to read the instructions. The earplugs in question are not designed to go into the ear canal. In fact, the instructions specifically tell you NOT to do this.
Unfortunately, you can’t legislate for the supreme stupidity of the American people.
No doubt you are even now drawing up a law suit claiming damages from McKeon’s the excellent manufacturer whose product you so carelessly malign.
Hey, that’s Americans for you.
Betcha thought I wouldn’t approve your comment. Let me address a few of your misconceptions:
1. My writing is very tongue-in-cheek. I thought it was very stupid to get a silicon ear plug stuck in my ear.
2. I did read the instructions. When I was removing the thing part of it broke off. As I tried to pull the rest of it out, it became lodged into my ear canal. It wasn’t always smashed in there.
3. Like I said, I used the product hundreds of times with no problem; yet I’m going to change to something else because my doctor told me to.
4. I’m not suing anyway. Accidents happen. You take a risk when you use any product and sometimes things don’t go as planned. It’s not the company’s fault.
5. I am pretty dumb. As I was leaving the doctor’s office, I missed the outside step and almost took a stumble. The doctor actually caught me so I wouldn’t fall. That’s how uncoordinated and dumb I am.
Note to self: stuff in ears = bad! Amy, I loved this article. Totally made me laugh. You are brilliant. Finestra Johns, it’s no fun being bitter. Try to laugh a little and look up the word “grace.” It’s a great approach to life.
Fortunately I am not American so don’t go in for touchy feely huggy you are totally awesome and brilliant insincerity.
Totally funny!
This may see funny to all of you, and some day it may seem funny to me, but not right now. I awoke about 3 three hours ago (around 1:30AM). I don’t know who manufactured my ear plugs but they were sold by earplugsonline.com. I did follow the instructions exactly but part of the plug is stuck in my ear canal. Of course, you all may pile on if you like, but what I really need is help. The web site said that they are made of beeswax, cotton and lanolin. Any ideas on what I can use to disolve this stuff?
Go to the doctor and have him or her remove it. You don’t want to mess with it because you could cause damage to your ear. Let me know how it goes!
Yes, it definitely was *not* funny to me until I was sure the plug was full removed from my ear. And, by the way, I also followed the instructions. I used another pair of ear plugs all summer in the pool and they worked well. They’re called “Hearos”.
Yes…go to the Dr…right away. If you leave it too long it will start to mess with your equilibrium (ie…you feel dizzy & sick all the time).
Amy I know exactly what you are going through! I have had a silicone earplug stuck in my ear since July! Why you wonder, exactly the same thing happened to me! And it is actually now sitting on my ear drum! numerous visits to A&E have been unsuccessful! Last result is surgery, but I am unable to have this until next year Jan as i am pregnant, so have to wait until my baby is born! bizarre as it sounds Amy it does happen! The hospital said I am the 4th person they have seen with this, obviously my case is extreme as I am pregnant! I actually complained to the company, who now as a result have taken the product of the shelf and are ‘reviewing’ the packaging and product!
The past few months have been hell for me, trips to the hospital have resulted in me crying like a baby because it has been so painful! They have tried everything forceps, water irrigation, suction and anaesthetic spray! NOTHING HAS Worked! It just breaks into pieces but the biggest part won’t move and is now living on my ear drum! So this is actually quite serious, and believe me Amy I know exactly what you have gone through and am dreading the surgery after I give birth! Anything apart from silicone earplugs I would recommend! Truly dangerous, and this can easily happen to anyone!
The insurers investigated my claim and discovered that the earplug actually does move whilst in your ear, so it is very very dangerous
Noelle
**** ***** **** I can’t believe this **** Got part of a silicon ear plug stuck in my left ear blocking 75% of my hearing. The ****ing doctor couldn’t remove it. I need my hearing god ****it. tards making me wait till 5:00 pm the next day to try suction which I don’t see as being fully successful. Will never use this type of ear plugs again and if them ****ers damage my hearing while removing it – there will be hell to pay.
OMG!Please tell me someone by now has figured a way to get them unstuck! I spent three hours in the urgent care today getting my eardrum tweazed and suctioned to no avail, and since getting home, I have had one end of a small rubber tube in my ear and the other end in my mouth trying to suck it out mysel!- Nothing is helping and I am going crazy because I can’t stand how if feels!I hate the way it feels when water gets in my ear, anyway, and this is just what that feels like, but 100 times worse! HEEELLP!
I live in a freaking dump (and because of circumstances beyond my control I Cannot move out)where my upstairs and downstairs neighbors have freaking parties from 11p.m. to 9a.m., then stomp around on my ceiling-ALL DAY and NIGHT LONG-every FREAKING DAY (AND yes, I HAVE called the police and the manager repeatedly, screamed at and threatened the neighbors, even taken photo and video documentation, filed a police report-ALL in vain, to get the human gutter trash evicted-I live in a poor neighborhood and the freaking police consider the poor to be dust underneath their swollen, doughnut-fed feet and refuse to help)and after nearly two months of 3-4 hours a day of broken sleep and getting very close to bashing the neighbors brains in I found silicon ear plugs. It was like heaven. They blocked out almost all noise, and were very comfortable. I used them for 8 blissful months. Then right before Memorial Day weekend (and the unexpected gift of a very rare trip to see my family and for a few days get out of the cess-pool I live in) I woke up with my ear plugged up. I tried everything to safely get the silicon out, nothing worked. I ALSO read the directions. I NEVER, EVER inserted the freaking ear plugs INTO my ear canal. The problem is that the silicon breaks and flakes off in tiny specks; undetectable, until they gradually build up. After months of use the silicon has insidiously built up to a sizable yet still undetectable piece; each time the ear plugs are used they pushed the tiny pieces deeper and deeper. You cannot feel this happening; there is no warning, no pain, no hearing loss, and no weird sensation to tell you something it slowly going wrong with your ear. Then one day you’ll put the ear plugs over your ears like you have for 8 freaking months and BAM! You wake up deaf in one ear. You suffer agony when it becomes infected BECAUSE YOU CAN’T AFFORD HEALTH INSURANCE AND CAN’T AFFORD TO JUST POP IN TO SEE THE DOCTOR! You have to find a cheap-*ss clinic for the disadvantaged where they treat you like dirt.
The person who wrote this article was trying to help others, trying to save them from pain and the cost of a doctor’s visit (and permanent hearing loss). They did this sweetly, with humor and offered a wonderful alternative ear plug.
So heres my story:
4 days ago i get a silicon ear plug stuck in my right ear. I try to remove it with tweezers and qtips. This just makes it worse by pushing it further down my ear canal. I go to A & E. The woman trys to remove it but ends up cutting my ear canal so it then hurts too much to continue. I spend the weekend in pain and half deaf. I see an Ear, Nose and throat Dr. today who uses every tool he has (suction, grabbers, hooks) and fails to remove the impacted wax. It just keeps breaking up as he tries to grab it. This causes further trauma to my ear canal which in places is lacking skin and is bleeding (so i am told). The pain each time they stuck a tool in was excruciating. So then he says i have to come back in a week after using some antiinflammatory drops so they can try again as there is too much localised damage.
So now i have another f*****g week of being half deaf/in pain/on constant painkillers before they try to get it out again. The likelihood then is i may well need surgery
All because of a stupid silicon ear plug
NEVER AGAIN!!!
I thought I was the only one. Guess not. I think I have a piece of this stuff stuck in my right ear canal. Been trying to use ear wax softener to hopefully get it to come out. Not helping. I have been using these things at night for over 2 years until one morning I woke up and my ear was stuffed up. Like an idiot, I kept using the plugs for a few days until I realized I was pushing what was in my ear further into my ear each night. After an hour or two during the day I can suddenly hear again. Probably because it moves away from my ear drum. Then at night it gets smashed by my pillow back again next to my eardrum I guess. I need to go to the doctor but I had my ears cleaned out once and it hurt. I am not looking forward to going. Oh gosh.
I have had a piece of the silicone ear plugs stuck in my left ear for two months. At first, I thought it would come out on it’s own and I tried flushing it with water, no luck. Then I tried using hydrogen peroxide to loosen it, but again no luck. It does start to break into little pieces like shards and becomes impossible to remove. I went to the doctor this week after reading online how dangerous this stuff is. The doctor tried to get it out with hot olive oil to loosen it and pull it out with tweezers, again no luck, just little pieces of the stuff. My hearing is muffled on the left side so I am having trouble hearing people. I have to go back to the doctor on Monday so they can try to get it out again. It seems like I might have to go to a specialist and have them get it out with suction, but I am getting scared reading all these posts because some people are saying that that has not been successful either. Some folks are even saying that they need to have surgery. Gosh, I hope not. This is crazy!!!! Why would anyone develop a product that does not naturally dissolve in the ear over time or come out with wax build up? There should be some kind of class action lawsuit pending against the companies who manufacture this product. Obviously there are many people who have suffered needlessly and spent lots of money for a problem they never intended to bring upon themselves.
Thanks everyone, for posting! I just got the wax plugs tonight after having problems with the foam ones. The foam expands into the ear, and makes my ear canals hurt after a few hours. I’m using the plugs to sleep. I wake up in the middle of the night with ear pain. I should mention that I’d been using them a few days before this became a problem. I though switching to the wax plugs would solve the problem…YIKES. Shame on the companies that continue to make them. I’m going to try a cotton ball, and then the wax over that, to keep the stuff out of my ears. One question–were the earplugs new, or had they been used a few times? I wonder if it’s more dangerous when it’s new and stickier? Thankfully I’m moving soon to a quiet apt.
By the way, Amy, thanks so much for starting this post.
You are not uncoordinated because you almost fell when leaving the doctor. Problems with the ears can throw off a person’s balance. It seems that may have happened to you.
Judging by the postings here, others experienced the same problem, and I imagine the company must have had many complaints as they have a phone number with 24 hour message “in case of misuse”. I didn’t listen to the message, but the Number is: 586-427-7205, if anyone’s interested. Sometimes a lawsuit is necessary for a company to consider discontinuing, or improving, a harmful product.
Thanks, Kel! I was surprised that other people had so many of the same problems I did. Fortunately, the doctor was kind enough to come in ON THE WEEKEND to spare me from going to the E.R. for this nonsense. Mine were used a bit when they got stuck. I use them for swimming. I’ve gotten “Hearos” and have had no problems whatsoever. I highly recommend those plugs!
Has anyone here had this happen and it just came out all by itself. I’ve used about 30 cottontips, they all come out with some blue on the end of them, but it’s still blocked.
I’ve tried suction, ear candles, oil… won’t it just come out itself?
Hi,
I spent a very painful hour at the ear doctor yesterday after having 6 weeks of on-and-off tinny echo in my right ear. He THINKS i got a little piece of one of those silicone ear plugs lodged in my ear in front of my ear drum – and then after i went swimming, a little water got lodged behind my ear drum/ear plug. (The symptom started after the swimming.) I use the earplugs only occasionally and had no idea a piece might have come loose. I’m still in some discomfort, hopefully all will recover smoothly…
I had an operation under general anaesthetic to remove a trapped silicon earplug. I had numerous appointments with various doc’s, none of whom could get it out. The final decision given i couldnt hear out of the ear and that it was causing me pain was to have it taken out operativley. It was such a relief after surgery to hear again out of that ear. Wont catch me using those again!!