If you have any of the problems listed below, please see a doctor, preferably an ear-nose-throat doctor (an ENT)

• Your ear has a birth defect or unusual shape. Your ear was injured or deformed in an accident

• You saw blood, pus, or fluid coming out of your ear in the past 6 months

• Your ear feels painful or uncomfortable

• You have a lot of ear wax, or think something could be in your ear

• You get really dizzy or have a feeling of spinning or swaying (called vertigo)

• Your hearing changed suddenly in the past 6 months.

• Your hearing changes: it gets worse then gets better again

• You have worse hearing in one ear

• You hear ringing or buzzing in only one ear