12/05/2025
Taken from a recent post from ENT & Audiology News:
There has been a recent exponential rise in lay people, with no previous ear anatomy / pathology / physiology experience, let alone healthcare experience, actively training to become ‘ear wax practitioners’. The duration of such training can range from just a single day to a few months. Perhaps even more shocking is that there are many hearing aid centres in the UK, including national companies, employing such lay people and / or training their own non-clinical administrative member of staff to perform earwax removal...
There are many potential risks associated with earwax removal. Firstly, there are inherent procedural risks, such as lacerations to the delicate skin lining the auditory canal wall, perforation to the tympanic membrane, noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus, iatrogenic otitis externa, vertigo due to the caloric effect and possibly even auditory syncope in individuals with Arnold’s nerve hypersensitivity. Secondly, it is not uncommon for patients to attend an earwax removal appointment believing their symptoms are due to earwax when, in fact, they have an underlying pathology. Some of these pathologies can be life-threatening and / or require an urgent medical referral. Examples of such pathologies include cholesteatoma, malignant otitis externa, nasopharyngeal mass causing otitis media with effusion in adults, vestibular schwannoma and sudden sensorineural hearing loss, etc...
Therefore, earwax removal should only be performed by suitably qualified medical and healthcare professionals who possess a deep understanding, knowledge and experience working with the ear, such as ENT, audiologists, GPs and nurses who have undergone extensive ear training.
Alarmingly, some of the lay people currently performing earwax removal in the UK are now advertising themselves as ‘audiologists’ given this is not a protected professional title. .. As a result, there are many unsuspecting members of the public booking into see such lay people for earwax removal, believing the individual treating them is suitably qualified and experienced in performing the procedure and all that it entails. ..
As a result of the growing safety concerns for the public in the UK, The National Aural Care Strategy Group (NACSG) was formed in 2023. NACSG membership currently includes representatives from key stakeholder organisations and professional bodies in the UK, such as ENT UK and the British Academy of Audiology (BAA), to name a couple. The core objective of NACSG is to prioritise patient safety by improving the quality of earwax removal currently being delivered. As well as updating current training guidelines, they aim to clearly define the scope of professionals who should be able to provide earwax removal. ..
The overall objective must be to ensure earwax removal becomes a regulated and protected activity, meaning that legally it can only be performed by suitably qualified medical and healthcare professionals with appropriate training, knowledge and experience relating to the ear.
Read the full article here: https://www.entandaudiologynews.com/features/audiology-features/post/ear-wax-removal-should-anyone-and-everyone-perform-it?
