What can cause permanent tinnitus?

[Kiitty]

I have been suffering from tinnitus for nearly 2 months now due to using cotton buds and bobby pins, which damaged my ears and gave me tinnitus. The assault to my ears caused me to get an outer ear infection along with tinnitus. The ear infection has healed, but the tinnitus has not. The process of healing the ear infection caused me to get ear wax buildup. When I tried to clean the ear wax using ear drops, the tinnitus got louder. Can this cause permanent tinnitus? I don’t listen to loud music and watch videos on low volume. But I did have cotton buds stuck in my ears for months, which had to be surgically removed.

[Happyrosie]

a lot of things might cause Tinnitus, and again it might just come on all by itself.

You now know that using cotton buds and so on is a NO-NO.

[doglover1973]

Hi Kiitty. The essential thing is to take the best care possible of your ears from now on. It sounds as if you're on the right track listening to music and videos on a lower volume. This will protect your ears from damage. If you have a build up of wax you can use drops like Earol. They won't do you any harm. Your T may sound louder as the wax softens and expands. If it doesn't come out on its own ask your GP about having it safely removed. Don't try to do it yourself.

[Suz_2]

hi Kitty - was the damage to the ear drum ? did it cause some hearing loss as well?

[Fridays_Child_62]

My tinnitus started when I was putting drops in my ears to soften ear-wax nearly 30 years ago. I hate those off-the-shelf drops and had a bad experience with sodium bicarbonate ones a number of years ago. I use a water called Audiclean two or three times per week to control the wax in my ears - it's gentler.