1. EAR SYRINGING.
Dr. P.T. Kenny

3. Polystyrene cup
After the bite…

4. Preparation… Prepare the correct equipment.
(A 10 or 20 ml syringe and a Jelco catheter is as effective as a large metal ear syringe!)
Explain to the patient what is about to happen and what should not happen, e.g. pain / water running down inside the throat.
Check that the plunger of the syringe moves freely in the barrel.
Fill the reservoir jug with luke warm tap water or a temperature of 370C maximum.
Draw water into the barrel of the syringe.

5. Method… Drape the patient’s shoulder and neck.
Position the collection dish below the patient’s ear – let the patient hold it in position.
Advance the nozzle into the patient’s external auditory meatus while simultaneously applying traction to the pinna in an upward and backward direction (to straighten the canal).
Advance the plunger aiming the nozzle at the roof of the canal, i.e. in a posterior superior direction.
When the syringe is empty, examine the canal for the persistence of wax / foreign body or damage to the ear canal.

6. Finally…
Continue this process until the wax or the foreign body has been removed.
Dry / clean the patient.
Should the wax be hard, soften it by pouring a little Johnson’s Baby Shampoo into the ear before attempting the syringing.

7. Contra-indications for syringing an ear…….
Previous middle ear surgery.
Perforated TM.
Discharge obscuring the TM.
Recent insertion of Grommets.

8. “Grommet” in situ.