Pre-treatment drops or spray for managing earwax
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A comparison of the effectiveness of pre-treatment olive oil used as drops versus spray prior to earwax removal by microsuction.
IRAS ID
316799
Contact name
Linor Ll Jones
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
BCUHB
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Earwax is a naturally occurring substance that forms part of the ear's self-cleaning mechanism. Normally it causes no problems however earwax can build up in the ear canal and become dry and impacted. This build up could be due to overproduction of earwax, use of cotton buds or reduced self-cleaning mechanism due to age. Excessive earwax causes problematic symptoms such as hearing loss, pain and dizziness and can have a significant negative impact on quality of life. It is thought to affect 2.3 million people per year in the UK.
Earwax that is causing symptoms should be removed as recommended in healthcare guidelines. Earwax can be removed mechanically but research has shown that wax should be softened first to ease its removal and reduce the chances of discomfort. This is done by the use of wax softeners. Many different wax softeners are available but the most commonly used is olive oil.
The Audiology service at BCUHB offers a wax removal service ran by Audiology practitioners for patients in North Wales in Primary Care locations. Patients can self-refer or be referred by GP or other healthcare professional for wax removal. Currently patients are advised to use either olive oil drops or olive oil spray for 7 days prior to their wax removal appointment.
Many previous research studies have previously compared the use of different wax softeners but none have compared different delivery methods (drops or spray). We aim to do this by randomly allocating GP practices that offer the wax removal pathway to either using olive oil spray or olive oil drops prior to their wax removal appointment and comparing the outcomes between the two groups. The outcomes we will investigate are the success of wax removal by microsuction, rate of adverse events and improvement in self-reported symptoms following wax removal.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/YH/0035
Date of REC Opinion
12 Mar 2024
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion