Routine Physical Screenings in Children & the Risk for Identifying Impacted Cerumen

As our children enter into the next school year, routine physical examinations will become quite common. From hearing tests to vision exams to general physical and dental screenings, children across the United States will seek out the medical approval of their healthcare provider to participate in extra curricular activities at school, especially those involving sports.

For some school age children, the physical health screening may result in the finding of a hearing complication, requiring further assessment. As a parent, before becoming overly concerned about this hearing complication in your child, it is important to understand this complication may be attributed to nothing more than impacted cerumen, also known as ear wax.

When a child suffers from impacted cerumen in the ear, the symptoms will generally appear as dizziness, some minor complaints of pain and, ultimately, hearing loss. It is this hearing loss, usually detected during physical examination by a healthcare professional, which often leads to the diagnosis.

If your child has been diagnosed with impacted cerumen, rest assured that treatment is rather simple. With irrigation in the doctor's office, and the application of ceruminolytic medications, the impacted earwax can be easily removed. In some cases, when significant impaction of earwax exists, the application of olive oil, over several days, may be necessary to soften the impaction for easier removal during irrigation in the doctor's office.

One area of concern for many healthcare professionals, as they conduct physical examinations and find hearing loss in a child associated with cerumen, is the tendency for some parents to use a home remedy to cure cerumen impaction of the ear. One of the most common home remedies involves the use of a candle or other hollowed tool, which is lit or heated, and then placed, bottom side, into the ear. In theory, parents believe the suction and heat from the use of a candle will pull the cerumen impaction from the ear thereby alleviating the hearing loss in their child and further reducing the need for additional medical treatment.