Best field remedy for small cockroach in the ear

Question

What are best methods for non-medically-trained personnel to remove a small cockroach from their own or someone else’s ear?

Answer 1

A few drops of baby oil (light nontoxic mineral oil) to suffocate the cockroach, then blunt tweezers or alligator forceps to carefully remove it once dead and motionless, if it is visible and easily grasped without rupturing the body of the roach or damaging the ear (don’t dig around blindly in the ear with any object). To prevent injury one should strongly consider saving removal until medical attention is available.

(Posting my own answer here just because it was such welcome knowledge when demonstrated to my friend who needed it, please comment or answer as well)

This was learned in response to an incident in southern Philippines in which a small (20mm x 5mm) cockroach flew seemingly accidentally into the side of my friend’s face then crawled rapidly into his ear. Water, rum, cigarette smoke, corn oil and attempts to remove the unharmed roach with a tweezers were unsuccessful and counterproductive, my friend (who grows corn and cassava) is a pretty tough guy but was getting increasingly unhappy (“it’s so loud!”). We drove him to a clinic, woke up the doctor, half awake he drowned the roach with a few large drops of mineral oil seemingly instantaneously, then fished out the now motinless slippery slightly bloody creature in less time than it takes to type this, charged us about $4, and went back to sleep. My friend literally bounded off of the exam table and around the room with relief and joy, and I carried a tiny bottle of mineral oil with me for the next year until I moved.

PS here’s a link https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/6/6/17429138/cockroaches-crawling-inside-ears-infections confirming that it’s better to do this than fight with a live roach (they’re pretty well evolved to fight in tunnels) but further that its important to clean ear canal thoroughly afterwards as the dying roach may vomit/excrete bacteria and fungi.

Addendum in Response to Comment: A commenter (@James Jenkins) wondered how baby oil (light non-toxic mineral oil could suffocate the roach, where corn oil could not. I had the same question and I followed it up with another doctor in the same region. Apparently a very low-viscosity mineral oil (baby oil as opposed to corn oil or water) somehow wicks in to the tiny passages that constitute a roach respiratory system (more on amazing roach HVAC system here http://www.notesonzoology.com/cockroaches/process-of-respiration-in-cockroaches-invertebrates/1989). So I’m unclear on the precise reason for why baby oil works but I was very sure to find out what was the standard practice (ordinary baby oil).

Answer 2

I would follow the advice of the Mayo Clinic.

Remove the object if possible. If the object is clearly visible, pliable and can be grasped easily with tweezers, gently remove it.

This is somewhat contentious advice since the general guidance for ears is to insert nothing smaller than your elbow. It is very easy to perforate the ear drum with tweezers and this would be much more dangerous in the field than leaving the bug to be.

Try using oil for an insect. If the foreign object is an insect, tilt the person's head so that the ear with the insect is upward. Try to float the insect out by pouring mineral oil, olive oil or baby oil into the ear. The oil should be warm, but not hot. Don't use oil to remove an object other than an insect. Don't use this method for a child if ear tubes are in place or if you think the eardrum may be perforated. Signs and symptoms of a perforated eardrum are pain, bleeding or discharge from the ear.

Again you need to be careful and make sure the ear drum is not perforated. The goal is not to suffocate the insect, but rather to float it out. Of course, if the insect stubbornly refuses to float, it will eventually drown/suffocate.