Can ear wax make you dizzy?

Yes, ear wax can make you dizzy, but it's one of the less common symptoms of a build-up. A plug of wax that fills the ear canal or presses on the eardrum can leave you feeling slightly unsteady or light-headed, usually alongside muffled hearing in the same ear. Proper vertigo, where the room seems to spin, is far more likely to start in the inner ear. Working out which pattern you have tells you whether to reach for ear drops or book a GP appointment.

How can ear wax cause dizziness?

Your sense of balance depends mainly on the inner ear, which sits deep behind the eardrum and works together with your eyes and the nerves in your muscles and joints. Ear wax collects in the outer ear canal, some distance from the balance organs. That distance is the reason it only occasionally upsets them.

Nobody is completely sure why it sometimes does, but two explanations fit what people describe. A large, hard plug can press on the eardrum, and that pressure may be passed inwards through the tiny bones of the middle ear. A blockage in one ear also means your brain receives slightly different information from each side. People often notice both together: a full, muffled ear and a vague sense that the floor isn't quite level.

Temperature plays a part too. The balance canals of the inner ear respond to warmth and cold, so cold water or cold drops in the ear can bring on a short burst of dizziness. It is the same reason clinicians use water at body temperature for ear irrigation.

Dizziness or vertigo: what's the difference?

People use the two words loosely, but the difference is useful here. Dizziness covers feeling light-headed, faint, giddy or off balance. Vertigo is more specific: you feel as if you, or everything around you, is spinning or moving when you are actually still. The NHS guidance on vertigo describes it as more than just feeling dizzy, and says an attack can last from a few seconds to hours, or days when it is severe.

Wax is more likely to cause the milder, unsteady kind of dizziness. It can occasionally bring on true vertigo. Even so, when the room is spinning, other causes deserve thought first, especially if the attacks are set off by moving your head or arrived with a cold.

Signs your dizziness could be down to ear wax

A few clues make wax more likely. None of them proves it, and only someone looking into your ear can confirm a blockage.

The opposite pattern suggests looking elsewhere. If your hearing is clear and your ears feel normal, wax is an unlikely culprit. The same goes for dizziness that only happens when you stand up, and for dizzy spells that have come and gone for months while your ears felt fine.

Our guide to the signs of ear wax build-up covers the other symptoms a blockage can cause. Ringing in the ears often turns up alongside dizziness, and ear wax and tinnitus looks at that link in more detail.

Other common causes of dizziness and vertigo

Most dizziness has nothing to do with wax. When your ear canals look clear, these are the causes a GP is most likely to think about:

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)

Short bursts of spinning, usually lasting less than a minute, set off by particular head movements such as rolling over in bed or looking up. It is common and is often treated with a series of guided head movements called the Epley manoeuvre.

Labyrinthitis and vestibular neuritis

Inflammation of the inner ear or the balance nerve, often after a cold or flu. The spinning can be severe, last for days and make you sick. Labyrinthitis can affect your hearing as well.

Ménière's disease

A rare inner ear condition that causes attacks of vertigo with hearing loss, tinnitus and a feeling of fullness in one ear. That full feeling is easy to mistake for wax.

Migraine

Vertigo can come with migraine, sometimes with very little headache.

A drop in blood pressure

A brief light-headed feeling when you stand or sit up quickly, known as postural hypotension.

Medicines and everyday causes

A new prescription, not drinking enough, low blood sugar in people with diabetes, anxiety and motion sickness can all leave you feeling dizzy.

An ear infection can make you dizzy too, usually with pain and sometimes with discharge or a high temperature. If you're unsure whether a blocked ear is wax or infection, our guide on telling ear wax from an ear infection sets out the differences.

Feeling dizzy during or after ear wax removal

A brief spell of dizziness while wax is being removed is a known side effect and usually harmless. During microsuction, air is drawn through the ear canal along with the wax, and the slight cooling this causes is thought to be enough to unsettle the balance organs in some people. ENT UK notes it is more likely in people who have had mastoid surgery, or who feel anxious during the procedure, and estimates that about 1 in 200 people have vertigo after microsuction.

With irrigation, water that isn't close to body temperature can have the same effect. Electronic irrigators are designed to prevent this, but a little wooziness is still possible.

It normally settles within a minute or two of stopping. Clinicians usually let you sit for a few minutes before you stand up, and it makes sense not to drive until the unsteadiness has gone. Our guide to whether microsuction is safe covers its other side effects, and microsuction vs irrigation compares the two main methods.

What to do if you think wax is making you dizzy

Deal with the dizziness itself first. Sit or lie down until it passes, then get up slowly. The NHS advises against driving, climbing ladders or using machinery while you feel dizzy, whatever the cause.

If your ear also feels blocked, softening the wax is a sensible first step. The NHS suggests 2 or 3 drops of olive or almond oil in the affected ear, 3 to 4 times a day for 3 to 5 days, lying with that ear facing up for a few minutes afterwards. Our guide on how to use ear drops shows the technique. Don't use drops if you have, or might have, a perforated eardrum, and don't try to dig wax out with cotton buds or anything else.

Still dizzy after a few days of drops, or keep getting dizzy spells? Have your ears examined. A practice nurse, pharmacist or clinician at an ear wax removal clinic can look in the ear and tell you whether there is wax there at all. Clear ear canals are useful information in themselves, because they point your GP towards other causes.

Older people deserve a particular mention. Wax build-up becomes more common with age, and even mild unsteadiness raises the chance of a fall. If an older relative seems more wobbly than usual and is also struggling to hear, getting their ears looked at is a simple place to start. Our guide to ear wax in older adults has more advice for carers.

When dizziness needs urgent help

Dizziness is rarely a sign of anything serious, but occasionally it is. Don't put it down to wax if it comes with any of the warning signs below.

Ask for an urgent GP appointment or contact NHS 111 if you have vertigo with a severe headache, you are being sick or feel very sick, or you have a very high temperature or feel hot and shivery.

For dizziness that isn't urgent, see a GP if it won't go away, keeps coming back or comes with ringing in your ears or hearing that is getting worse. The NHS also points out that if you drive and have vertigo, you must tell the DVLA.