Earwax, or cerumen, protects our ears from damage and infection. Produced by glands in the skin that lines the ear canal, the main function of earwax is to trap dust and small particles and stop them from reaching the eardrum and causing damage.
Earwax usually clears away naturally - a small amount of wax makes its way to the opening of the ear, where it's washed away, or dries up and falls out along with any trapped dust and dead skin cells. You may notice the wax on your pillowcase, towel or flannel.
Sometimes the wax builds up and becomes too hard to fall out naturally, resulting in the earwax blocking the ear passages. Some people's ears make more earwax than others and so they experience blockages more frequently.
Usually, a blockage happens when a person pokes cotton buds, twisted tissues or even safety pins, hair grips or paperclips into the ear canal to clean their ears. Rather than removing the wax, this action forces it deeper into the ear and could damage the lining of the ear canal or the eardrum.
If you have wax blockage, you may feel one or more of the following symptoms:
Earache, or the feeling your ear is plugged
You hear ringing or other noises