As a species, it seems, we are obsessed with records and here’s one that I never thought I would be troubling you with – the world’s longest chunk of earwax.
A patient went to see Neel Raithatha at the Hear Clinic in Oadby near Leicester, presumably complaining about some discomfort in his ear. After some investigation, Neel realised that this was a cut above the usual job he does and deploying endoscopic cup suction, he was able to get hold of the wax and pull and pull and pull.
Remarkably, the chunk of earwax, measuring 2.5 centimetres, came out intact and, more importantly, the eardrum wasn’t damaged by the process. As the average ear canal measures around 3 centimetres, the brown clump of wax was a whopper but, clearly, there is some opportunity for the record to be broken.
Whether Neel charged his standard fee of £50 per ear (£80 for two) for wax removal has not been reported.
windowthroughtime 