Ear Scope hands-on and in-ear (with disgusting pics and vid!)

Dear readers, please make us a promise: if we ever ask you to go jump off a bridge, for heaven's sake, just ignore us and stick with your common sense. We only mention this because after making an off-the-cuff, rather goofy "request" for pictures of some "hot in-ear action" from one of those Ear Scope wax removal tools, someone actually called our bluff and sent in photos and a video of more nauseating aural pr0n than anyone should ever be subjected to. However, being men (and women) of our word, we're gonna throw good taste to the wind and post reader Michael's sometimes exciting, mostly disgusting tour of his ear canal. Gasp in shock as he almost punctures his eardrum during an intense cleaning session. Hold onto your seat as he bravely struggles to remove the mother of all wax clumps. Stand up and cheer when he finally succeeds in achieving a slight improvement in hearing. It's a thrill ride, an emotional roller coaster, a fantastic voyage -- you might even say that it's the feel good film of the year.

Read - Flickr set
Read - CScout

[GJP303 @ Mar 15th 2007 6:22PM]

The ear canal wasn't pleasant but when you brought it up his nose, well, I just had to stop the vid.

[oscarsito @ Mar 15th 2007 6:23PM]

Well that doesn't incentive me to buy it. Classic Q-Tip for me.

http://www.oscarsito.com

[CharlieX @ Mar 15th 2007 6:48PM]

I just can't. I'm sorry... I though I was tougher than that.

[Manos @ Mar 15th 2007 6:54PM]

What exactly is that light we see in his ear canal? Could it be...the other side...?

[MTheory @ Mar 15th 2007 7:08PM]

I WISH I COULD QUIT YOU!

[Mischa Lockton @ Mar 15th 2007 7:11PM]

reminds me of when Matmos opened for Bjork in Oakland.

[Aaron @ Mar 15th 2007 7:33PM]

Does it use DRM?

[Franco @ Mar 15th 2007 7:38PM]

Hmm. that was boring. how could people be shock that video. Cutting a cow eye in biology class shock me more than that.

[fitinferno @ Mar 15th 2007 11:03PM]

That really was kinda dull. Oddly enough, I seriously expected some kind of exciting music with it. Some kind of chase-themed music.

[DeltaOps101 @ Mar 15th 2007 10:23PM]

Jump off a bridge? Okay!

[rodrigo1508 @ Mar 15th 2007 11:32PM]

Actually I think it was great you can see very clearly everything you need to see when you check the ears and nose. Also I see nothing disgusting, the patient had both nose and ears very clean. The light you see in the ears is the reflection of the light, it even has a name (I dont know it in english). Depending on the price I think its great and maybe I would buy one, but then I am a med student.

[Fzzt @ Mar 16th 2007 3:54AM]

Now, how to convince the girlfriend to let me...

[James @ Mar 16th 2007 1:08PM]

Asians have been cleaning ears this way for hundreds of years, I'll bet.

[Eliot Hochberg @ Mar 16th 2007 1:39PM]

For those of you who don't need 100% of your hearing, I can see how this would seem unneeded. I am a singer, and a few years ago discovered that despite my cleaning of my ears for years, I had missed something. May as well go discusting: there was at least half an inch of crap up in there. Since then, I have become highly attuned to the state of my ears. Is my hearing better? Sometimes, but that is why something like this would be good. I currently use a Japanese ear stick, which works, but can often be too harsh. Being able to see what's happening would solve this.

I also should mention that just prior to my ear discovery, I went to the doctor, who said my ears were fine and that my hearing was fine. In truth, my hearing was "average" which is to say, not actually all that good. And my ears weren't fine. They were filled with wax and who knows what else. Even if it doesn't improve my hearing, the idea that there was all that stuff in there just bugs me.

[JV @ Mar 16th 2007 2:34PM]

The light was on, but nobody was home.

[cyllene @ Mar 16th 2007 2:46PM]

Actually, while piercing your eardrum may be painful, it does no long term damage as it regenerates. Q-tips don't clean anything, they just push the wax further. However, a wax-solvent and a syringe with water will clean your ears perfectly. You use the solvent for a few days, then push water in. The water will bounce against the eardrum and push wax out. Some people need to go through this process because their ears don't clean themselves very well.

Physicians look in patient's ears and remove wax all the time. This tool seems very similar to ENT cams, and this person's ears were very clean. This video is simply for the anatomically curious, and similar footage is shown in every medical school.

[jamesewong14 @ Mar 19th 2007 11:54AM]

I threw up a little bit in my mouth.