London, July 20 (IANS): Heading out of town for some leisure time? Before travelling in a flight or taking a dip in water, make sure you clean your ears to avoid any kind of damage.

“Ear wax absorbs water and then expands, causing a blockage and hearing problems," femalefirst.co.uk quoted Mary Kelly from the Clear Ear Clinic as saying.

“We see a lot of patients who jump into the pool on the first day of their holiday, which washes ear wax deep into the ear canal, and they then end up spending the rest of their precious holiday deaf or looking for a way or a person to remove the earwax,” she added.

Ear wax specialist Kelly is part of a team, which removes more than 100 litres of ear wax every year. Here are few tips from her to keep your ears safe:

- Never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ears. This includes hair pins, pens, and pen tips. They may temporarily relieve the irritation, but they push the ear wax further into your ears.

- During flight, if you suffer from ear pain and you know your ears are clear of wax, try ear planes’ earplugs, which slow down the change in air pressure on ascent and landing.

- We can comfortably manage with our ears 95 percent full of ear wax, but once it’s more than this, the problem arises. If you have regular ear wax build up, consult a doctor and have the earwax removed, before going on holiday.

- For earwax removal, try microsuction. Derived from ear surgery, it uses a binocular operating microscope to see right into the ear canal and a very fine sterile suction device at low pressure to remove the wax.

- Use ear drops. If nothing is available in vicinity, try to unblock ears with ear drops such as olive oil or sodium bi-carbonate ear drops. But stay away ear drops containing hydrogen peroxide. They can damage your ears.

- Use soft towel to dry the outer part of your ear. The inside will dry on its own. Never use a hair dryer, as this may burn your ear.

- If you're going to a night club where loud music is being played, wear protection.