Amazing little gadget, easy to use.
I seldom write reviews unless I think a product is worthy of praise, or should be avoided. I read the reviews for the myriad of Chinese ear cleaner cameras, across the usual too-cheap-to-be-real to the exact same product at multiples of price. People have trouble with the hardware—the little silicon tips sliding off in their ear canal, the terrible chinglish software which won’t connect, or then wants you to approve connections that seem suspicious, and the electronic unreliability. This product seemed not to have any of those issues, so I decided to give it a try. I am a geezer who only has one functioning ear due to a birth defect, and has struggled with hearing life-long, with multiple infections and troubles with the good ear, culminating with age-related hearing loss in the past decade. I am also a physician with a research background who understands the anatomy and physiology of the ear, as well as the mechanics of dealing with physical problems, although not an ear doctor. Over the past few months I thought my hearing was getting worse, despite a hearing aid. So I decided to get a better look, and find a way to fix it before going to an otologist and spending silly sums for a new hearing device. This little gadget performed well for me. It charged up easily and quickly, and pairing it with the app across Wi-Fi went quickly and smoothly. It did not ask for extraneous permissions on iOS, and actually worked beautifully on a 12.9” iPad, giving clear imaging that surprised me. NOTE: it will require access to your camera/photos and Wi-Fi, because it connects by Wi-Fi rather than Bluetooth, and is a camera device. But it should not ask for other permissions. I discovered a huge tangled chunk of cerumin—that yellow wax our ear canals produce for protection, along with a couple of tiny beard hairs and dead skin cells defiantly blocking my eardrum. It actually resembled a fetal alien from a Ridley Scott Sci-Fi! The device along was not enough to dislodge and remove it, but fortunately, I had also ordered Debrox, the ear drops that help to soften and remove such an obstruction. And also the cleanright kit to use warm water and peroxide to soften the brick of ear gunk and flush it out. Success! I used the debrox to soften it, with several applications, and tried again with the little otoscope. Wouldn’t budge, and was becoming painful, with a little bit of blood seeping from the tenderest inner part of the canal. So I decided to soften it further and try flushing it out with the cleanright kit, warm water with diluted peroxide. After three bottles full, and more applications of debrox (another gentle peroxide agent to loosen and dissolve the dried chunk), it began to come out, in tiny bits of wax floating in the sink before me! Without all the pain. A couple more rounds of this procedure got 95% of it out, and my hearing was back to (geezerly) normal! Enough to sing along joyfully to Stevie Nicks! I could see my eardrum finally with the tiny camera. So, folks, be gentle on your ears, they are tiny delicate exquisite living instruments. But use the best non-doctor technology to keep them functioning well. Carbamide peroxide ear drops. Gentle ear flushing with diluted H2O2 in warm water, and this little gadget to observe the results. If your ear was impacted as much as mine was, this device alone will not fix it without traumatizing your ear canal, and possibly the delicate and sensitive drum. But if you want to save yourself a trip to the doctor, endless waiting in agony, and feel happy to have solved the problem yourself, give my approach a try. What would be a nice addition to this system: the ability to record or take photos within the app with a tap on the screen, to see over time the progress. Taking screenshots while one’s hands are delicately probing the ear is just not workable. Read more
