Ear Cleaning

I've been fighting acute sinusitis for a couple weeks now and it is causing ringing in my ears.  The doctor cleaned out my ears with a sucking tube today.  I can hear out of my right ear better than ever now since all the wax is out.  When he cleaned my left ear he touched a sesitive spot that hurt and I let out an "ouch".  He proceded and said that there was a hard piece of wax that wasn't coming out.  I am to use softening drops for the next week and go back to have it redone.

My ear bled a little bit and he put antibiotic drops in the left ear and a cotton swab.  He didn't say if he damaged anything or not.  I don't seem to hear as well from my left ear.  In the past I would experience the same type of hearing loss if I cleaned my ears with qtips.  It would go away within a week or two and I assume it was because I jammed my ear with wax.

I'm assuming since a medical professional did the work that I shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Can anyone verify this?

[Wear/a/Jimmy]

The ears work in unison. ANY time one ear has the ability to hear better than the other, the brain does not recognize or accept information from the weaker ear. The weaker ear is still functioning, it is just that the brain just does not care.

Think about for a moment. In order to localize sound, the brain must be EXTREMELY sensitive to sound level differences. A person can localize a musquito while flying through a room.  Once the sound level difference is beyond 6 dB the brain behaves as the weaker ear is "dead."

In other words if one has an average hearing ability of 20 dB, and the opposite ear has a hearing ability at 30dB....  the 30dB ear is regarded as "dead" by the brain.

You have one clean, clear ear, and another blocked of ear... the blocked off ear would then natuarally seem as "dead" to the brain because it is not as sensitive as the other ear.

Sounds to me like your ENT did the right thing, by giving you drops and asking you to come back in the near future.

Good luck

[MrsKett]

I concur. I have had the same painful buildup in my ears, removed by a physician, and any slight damage to the ear drum or any other such structures will heal on their own, especially with the aid of antibiotic drops.  You may want to look into your own ear lavage kits to prevent this in the future - this has worked for me!
Best of luck!

[elltkeen]

Just to follow up here.  After using the ear drops for a week I went back in the clinic and he cleaned out the rest of the wax in the left ear.  I can now hear out of both ears equally.  What a difference it has made.