TLC 'Stuck': Man who NEVER cleaned ears suffers from hearing loss due to hardened earwax
TLC's 'Stuck' is a show that explores strange objects that are stuck within the human body and how medical specialists remove them. The show showcases the strangest, most intriguing, and simply amazing procedures needed to release objects stuck inside people's bodies with no simple way out.
The following story was about a man called Devon Preston who has never cleaned his ears in his life. Devon and his wife visited ENT institute White Oak in Newnan, Georgia, since Devon couldn't hear anything. They meet Dr Lynn, whose favorite part of working in the ENT department is removing any foreign objects from the ear and nose. First, Dr Lynn sees what's exactly in Devon Preston’s ear but she can’t see eardrums because the earwax is stuck inside his ears.“Looking around devons ears, I just see a wall of dark brown, gooey, dry-looking ear wax, that's completely blocking the eardrums,” Dr Lynn states.
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The doctor also mentions that the condition is called Cerumen Impaction.
Cerumen, or earwax, is a combination of glandular secretions and desquamated epithelial cells that clean, protect, and lubricate the external auditory canal. Cerumen is typically expelled from the ear canal spontaneously via a self-cleaning mechanism that is assisted by jaw movement. In some persons, however, this mechanism fails and cerumen becomes impacted. Cerumen impaction is defined as an "accumulation of cerumen that causes symptoms or prevents assessment of the ear canal, tympanic membrane, or audiovestibular system; complete obstruction is not required."
Dr Lynn uses the suction method which entails creating a vacuum with just air and allowing her to remove wax from the ear canal's side. The suction, however, does not work as the earwax within his ear has hardened over time. So she decided to rinse the ear out herself with irrigation. As soon as she began the treatment, a warm water-like substance began came out from the patient's ear, and there was a large chunk of wax coming out of his ears too. Devon was finally able to regain his hearing ability. In the end, Dr Lynn recommended patients not clean their ears with cotton swabs since the cotton swab just reaches the tip of the wax. It's a little like the tip of an iceberg.