Contains Unnecessary 'Other Stuff' (Cerumol Ear Drops)

Member Name: LornaGreen

Product:	Cerumol Ear Drops
Date:	17/06/09 (102 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: includes an ear dropper, retro box design, seems to work

Disadvantages: contains turpentine!

I bought this stuff out of desperation. I was at work, supposedly serving customers, but my ears were blocked with wax and I couldn't hear much of what was being asked of me. So during lunch hour I dashed to the local chemist. I knew olive oil is all that is needed for ear drops to loosen/remove ear wax, but not having a dropper to administer it I gathered the only easy way to acquire one was by buying a specific ear drop product. I selected Earex peanut oil stuff as it was the cheapest at £3.04. I noticed they also stocked small bottles of olive oil with an ear dropper for about a fiver!? The chemist recommended Cerumol instead, being only 5p more expensive and containing 'other stuff' as well as peanut oil which apparently made it work better.

Of course I was soon reminded that any kind of ear drops have an immediate effect of worsening any deafness rather than improving matters, and my day would not be improved by having extra goo in my ear....

Cerumol appears to live behind the counter in chemists and comes in an incredible, minimal-looking box which looks like it hasn't had a design overhaul in decades. Just a big purple drop....no photos of, say, people looking overjoyed that they can hear. On the one hand it gives it a 'classic' appearance which I like, on the other hand it made me wonder whether I was being recommended it as it had been standing on that shelf since the seventies!

Unlike other ear drops I've had, where the glass dropper is built into the bottle lid, Cerumol has a normal bottle lid and separate dropper. So having gone through the process at bedtime of lying ear-up and dropping in oil, you then have to think about where on earth to put the greasy dropper without all the oil running out your ear (you have to lie on your side for an hour for Cerumol to take proper effect). While trying to keep oil in your ear, this is fiddly.

Cerumol has a strong, distinctive smell, that reminded me of ear drops I'd been prescribed as a child, which I at first found reassuring. Then I read that the 'other stuff' in it includes TURPENTINE, and suddenly this smelly, oily stuff I had running into ear and down my neck didn't seem very pleasant.

The 11ml bottle of Cerumol, being used for both ears, ran out within the week. I was then able to use the dropper with normal kitchen olive oil. Olive oil is cheaper by miles, smells much better, sort of has a warmer, friendlier feeling in the ear, and isn't bad for skin either. It is widely agreed that it works as well as any products like Cerumol and Earex, and when I saw the doctor he recommended olive oil. So did my gran and everyone else I spoke to. I have heard that if you ask at the counter at a chemist you can buy ear droppers on their own for next to nothing, so there is really no reason to purchase Cerumol after all--it seems to do the job OK, but it is unnecessary.

Neither Cerumol nor olive oil could unblock my ears on their own, but using them for a week did mean that when I went to my appointment with the nurse, the syringing was over in seconds, and now I feel as if i can hear better than ever.

Summary: Stinky, expensive, messy and inconvenient bottle/dropper--use olive oil instead!