Olive Oil Dropper Mishap: Negative Pressure Created by Releasing the Dropper Causing Brief Deafness

Hi

I have been using olive oil drops to soften my earwax for the last few weeks without any problems. Today a terrible thing happened.

I usually put the dropper into the entry of my ear canal to not let the drops miss the ear canal and then push the plastic tip. Is that wrong? I did the same thing today. When I let got off the tip while the dropper was at the entry of my ear canal today, my ear went immediately full/deaf for a second or two. I am not sure but negative pressure was created through releasing the dropper? The dropper sucked up some air by releasing the tip? Is this possible? There is the other possibility that too much oil came out and blocked the ear canal. I never had this problem before. I did everything as I did before. But this time felt completely different and I think I might have caused suctions on my drum through the dropper.

The feeling of fullness/deafness has subsided but I am very concerned that I have done damage to the ear drum.

Can anyone help please?

 

Relax, no damage, just be careful do not insert dropper next time.

 

I think it is unlikely that the ear drum will be damaged. You may experience the ear fullness for a few hours to a few days though.

 

Thank you both! The feeling of dullness is a bit better but has not subsided completely.

@dan I have to say I was not aware that I could do wrong here. Does no one ever put the dropper at the entry of the ear canal directly? I have always done it myself and letting the drops fall from a height always ended in a mess.

 

The tip should remain outside the canal. The dropper should only touch the outer ear as a guide.
Ideally a second person drops from a height.

 

Thank you!

What exactly happened because of me mishandling the dropper? The dropper sucked air out of the ear canal after being released? Is this similar to removing an earplug quickly? I have been reading so much about the kiss of deaf which also creates suction and so on that I cannot stop obsessing about this event.

The fact that I might have caused myself harm by a dropper is beyond me.

 

I think it's more the noise caused by the suction action, and not actually the suction per se.

The kiss of death is all about decibels, its way waaaaay worse than a dropper, it can reach over 100 decibels if done strong enough. A dropper does not have significant suction action.

It's due to the close proximity to the ear drum.

Many people do ear wax suction and don't get worse, so it can't be the suction... if they do get worse, it's because the vacuum was loud as it's so close to the eardrum. Negative pressure in itself does not damage the cochlea- only noise can damage it.
You didn't damage your eardrum, don't worry.

I think what happened is your inner ear muscles tightened (protection in anticipation of loud noise) and that caused tension on the eardrum, hence your symptoms.