New hearing aids cause my ears to itch

Thank you, everyone, for your help! We heat with wood here, so that might be aggravating the problem. I’ll try the alcohol and hope things quiet down in a day or two :slight_smile:

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It will go away, but in the meantime get Eargene to sooth that itch!

I understand that Eargene can be found on Amazon. Can it be found in places like CVS?

BTW, the itch isn’t so bad today, so there’s hope :wink:

Costco gave me this the first visit. I used to carry it in my pocket but hardly use it anymore.

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Your itching might be due to improper fitting of your hearing aids or it might be slight allergic reaction from the plastic. Whatever may be the case, You should discuss it with your audiologist.

My ears itch periodically. I first swab them with alcohol and then put a very small amount of Cortizone-10 Maximum Strength anti-itch creme on a q-tip. Works every time.

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The itch has finally subsided, thank goodness! The audiologist said to wipe some hand lotion in there and let it dry. That helped. This lotion had the anti-itch ingredient.

Actually, a good scratch worked as well as anything :wink:

At this point, time seems to have taken care of the problem.

Glad the itch subsided! I was also going to suggest (as one did earlier) that you may have an allergy to the plastic used on the mold IF that’s what your aids are made from. If it’s silicone dome in the canal, it would be less likely (but not unheard of) to get a reaction.

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I get infrequent but annoying itching. Cleaning with hydrogen peroxide often helps. I also saw this stuff mentioned in another thread and it both reduces itching and can work as a lubricant if I’m having trouble inserting my domes into dry ears:
ProEar

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^^^ I used to use Miracel years ago, but found that lubricant/moisturizer ended up compounding my sensitive ear situation.

Alcohol is drying and may lead to irritation of ear canal skin(and infection). The physician’s assistant who treated me for my ear infection at a university audiology clinic recommended against it. He suggested swabbing domes or molds with just the slightest bit of olive or mineral oil before insertion. He said that any slight residue left in the ear would help protect the canal against dryness. Just a little oil goes a long way. I suggest avoiding the receiver ends. I apply it with my index finger and I can barely see the amount that I use on my finger tip.

My wife had itching problems with her HAs (Oticon OPN1 RITE with domes), and found that putting them in the dryer/UV box overnight solved that problem for her.

What brand and model Dryer/UV box do you have?

I’m not the guy you asked, but I use “Zephyr by Dry & Store Hearing Instrument Dryer/Dehumidifier”:
https://www.amazon.com/Zephyr-Dry-Store-Dehumidifier-Maintenance/dp/B001CNGUQC/

I think it’s OK. Only disadvantage is you need to replace the dessicant every 2-3 months.

Thanks! I’m curious what others are using.
This is the one my audiologist recommends.

https://www.amazon.com/Quest-Perfectdry-Automatic-Disinfecting-Cleaning/dp/B00H8QOE0Q?ref_=ast_bbp_dp

I use the Perfect dry lux from Costco, sometimes I’ll do 2 half hour sets.

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For home use, Serene Renew. While traveling, PerfectDry Lux, as it is smaller and USB-powered. The Serene doesn’t have a fan and the cycles are longer, so I think it works a bit better, but the PerfectDry works too.

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BTW, the paradoxical thing about my PA’s recommendations ("Don’t use classic 70% rubbing alcohol in your ears!") is that at the same time, the guy recommended using as I deem necessary, a prophylactic treatment of the following solution for “Swimmer’s Ear.” A one-to-one-to-one mix of something like Heinz white vinegar (~5% acetic acid) to 70% rubbing alcohol to distilled water (the guy said don’t mess with tap water and whatever might be in it). So we discussed possibly putting a drop of the above in each ear every day before going to sleep vs. treating each ear once a week with about 4 drops per ear while putting my head side-down on a table, massaging the ear after drop application, and remaining still after that for about 5 minutes before stuffing a small cotton ball just in the outermost opening of the ear canal to catch any drips after resuming normal posture-the once-a-week treatment being my choice. I didn’t want to do the everyday bit for fear that acid every day would be hard on my HA receivers if it worked its way down my mold bore holes.

To hold the olive oil and the home-brew Swimmer’s Ear treatment, I bought two brown dropper bottles on Amazon for about $4 (could only find droppers, not dropper bottles in pharmacy section of local grocery stores, Walmart, etc).

What I’m doing with the olive oil and the home-brew is very similar to what other users have described on the forum over the years. I’m just discussing the specifics of my implementation. The rationale for the prophylactic treatment is that I wear pretty tight-fitting occlusive molds that lead to high humdity inside my ear canal and potentially rub off protective wax when I insert and remove the molds and I have already had one left ear infection. An acid environment is not conducive to microbial growth (one of the principles involved in preserving food by fermentation by lactobacilli, etc.) so hopefully a once-a-week treatment with the acidic mix will help preserve the normal mildly acid environment of my ear canal.

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Believe it or not, there turned out to be a simpler fix for my itchy ears: I have Oticon BTEs. I went to a new audiologist, who asked why my previous one had recommended 10mm domes. She switched me to 8mm domes and boom, problem solved! Plus I have a weirdly shaped ear canal on the left ear and with the smaller dome the aid now stays in much better.

Actually “Comfort Ear” is a very good product. I found a package with a 14 ml bottle of Comfort Ear in my local pharmacy. I use it from time to time in Winter when lack of humidity takes its toll. It seems to work as claimed.