It is known that sulfuric plugs in the ears appear because the sulfur glands located in the ears begin to actively secrete a special secret. Proceeding from this, the sulfuric cork contains sulfur, scaly remains of dead skin and the secret itself secreted by the sebaceous glands. If the ears are healthy, then the ear plug is also formed in them, however, in this case, sulfur can be quickly removed during the process of chewing food or during conversation.
It must be said that sulfur accumulates in the ear canal because the ear canal is quite narrow and winding. In addition, the state of sulfuric cork can tell a lot of things about its color and consistency. As a rule, sulfur plugs in the ears at the initial stage of their appearance can be quite soft, however, if you do not get rid of it in a timely manner, then the sulfur plug can even harden very much.
There are types of people who have some predisposition to the formation of sulfur plugs. This may be due to the individual physiology of the structure of the ear, as well as work in such conditions in which the formation of sulfur plugs occurs much faster. These conditions include labor at construction sites where there is a lot of cement and construction dust, at flour mills, at sawmills and in mines.
Symptoms of sulfuric cork are as follows: usually there is a sharp hearing impairment. And a person who has sulfuric plug in his ears can feel stuffiness and ringing. In principle, hearing loss does not occur in all cases. The fact is that although the sulfur plugs in the ears can be quite large, however, if there is a small gap between them and the ear canal, then hearing loss is not observed. But it’s enough to get even a small amount of water into your ears, as the cork will begin to swell sharply and block the entire ear canal. But this is not the worst. Sulfur plugs in the ears, swelling, can exert extreme pressure on the eardrum. And this, in turn, will certainly cause a severe headache, nausea and even coughing.
If it so happened that the sulfuric plug formed in the external auditory canal and has been in it for quite some time, then this can cause serious inflammation. And this, in turn, will be accompanied by strong and unpleasant pain in the ears.
From all this it becomes clear that sulfuric plugs in the ears, the symptoms of which were discussed above, some people try to remove on their own. Moreover, as “improvised” means, they use a variety of sharp objects such as needles, sharpened matches, hairpins, etc. But this should not be done. The thing is that trying to help himself, on the contrary, a person begins to push the cork deeper into the ear, from where it will be more difficult to extract it. In addition, in the process of such an “operation”, the integrity of the eardrum can be accidentally violated. In this case, it is necessary to act correctly, washing the sulfuric plug with a strong stream of warm water. In principle, this can be done independently, however, it will be better to entrust this to the doctor.
If the ENT detects hard sulfur plugs in the ears, then he will definitely prescribe a certain course of taking special medications that will help soften the sulfur plug. The course also consists in instillation for several days of solvents or liquid paraffin. And only after the cork becomes soft and takes on a waxy consistency, the doctor with a special syringe and under strong pressure of warm water will wash the sulfur cork from the ear. It is no secret that sometimes it is not possible to remove the cork from the ear the first time, therefore, dissolving drops should be instilled into the ear again, after which the cork removal procedure continues.