--- title: "Tickling in Ear Canal | Sutter Health" description: "For the past three months, I've had a constant and irritating tickle in my inner ear. It even wakes me up at night. I've used ear rinses and had my primary care doctor examine it, but she could not find anything. Any suggestions?" url: "/ask-an-expert/answers/tickling-in-ear-canal-1051061234" --- 1. Home / 2. Tickling in Ear Canal # Tickling in Ear Canal * * * Medically reviewed by - Wendy Schreuder, M.S. ## Question For the past three months, I've had a constant and irritating tickle in my inner ear. It even wakes me up at night. I've used ear rinses and had my primary care doctor examine it, but she could not find anything. Any suggestions? ## Answer You might want your primary physician to refer you to an Ear Nose and Throat doctor. Some ear canals can have “pockets” that are not noticeable by looking in the ear canal with a standard otoscope, and an ENT doctor can use a more powerful microscope to get a better view of the ear canal. Further, if there is a question of whether the tickle is in the canal portion or the middle ear portion of your ear, the doctor can discuss with you the best way to treat the irritating tickle. ## Explore related topics Ear, nose and throatEars ## Related questions View all questions - Health Q&A ### Diabetes and Hearing Loss I have diabetes and I read recently that people with this disease have a higher risk of hearing problems. Why would this be, and is there anything I can do to prevent it? - Health Q&A ### Hearing Loss Research Is there any research being done to help treat and prevent hearing loss? 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View all questions ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"Sutter Health","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org","logo":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/static/images/sutter-health-logo.svg","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"2200 River Plaza Drive","addressLocality":"Sacramento","addressRegion":"CA","postalCode":"95833","addressCountry":"US"},"areaServed":{"@type":"AdministrativeArea","name":"California"},"sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/SutterHealth","https://www.instagram.com/sutterhealth/","https://x.com/SutterHealth","https://www.youtube.com/sutterhealth","https://www.linkedin.com/company/sutter-health","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutter_Health"]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/ask-an-expert/answers/tickling-in-ear-canal-1051061234#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tickling in Ear Canal"}]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MedicalWebPage","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/ask-an-expert/answers/tickling-in-ear-canal-1051061234#medicalwebpage","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/ask-an-expert/answers/tickling-in-ear-canal-1051061234","name":"Tickling in Ear Canal","description":"You might want your primary physician to refer you to an Ear Nose and Throat doctor.","inLanguage":"en-US","medicalAudience":{"@type":"MedicalAudience","audienceType":"Patient"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/ask-an-expert/answers"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/ask-an-expert/answers/tickling-in-ear-canal-1051061234#breadcrumblist"},"mainEntity":{"@type":"Question","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/ask-an-expert/answers/tickling-in-ear-canal-1051061234#question","name":"Tickling in Ear Canal","text":"For the past three months, I've had a constant and irritating tickle in my inner ear. It even wakes me up at night. I've used ear rinses and had my primary care doctor examine it, but she could not find anything. Any suggestions?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/ask-an-expert/answers/tickling-in-ear-canal-1051061234#answer","text":"You might want your primary physician to refer you to an Ear Nose and Throat doctor. Some ear canals can have “pockets” that are not noticeable by looking in the ear canal with a standard otoscope, and an ENT doctor can use a more powerful microscope to get a better view of the ear canal. Further, if there is a question of whether the tickle is in the canal portion or the middle ear portion of your ear, the doctor can discuss with you the best way to treat the irritating tickle.","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/ask-an-expert/answers/tickling-in-ear-canal-1051061234","author":{"@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/ask-an-expert/answers/tickling-in-ear-canal-1051061234#expert"}}},"publisher":{"@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization"},"reviewedBy":{"@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/ask-an-expert/answers/tickling-in-ear-canal-1051061234#expert"}} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Person","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/ask-an-expert/answers/tickling-in-ear-canal-1051061234#expert","name":"Wendy Schreuder","honorificSuffix":"M.S."} ```