Be truthful; as an adult, you use cotton buds (also known as Q-tips) to clean excess wax and debris off your ears. You even like using it. That pleasurable feeling that comes with sticking it deeper and deeper into your ear holes is something you almost look forward to, secretly. Sometimes, you stick worse into your ears. Examples of interesting objects people have been known to ‘clean’ their ears with include:
Hair Pins
Tweezers
Broomsticks
Blunt end of toothpicks
Pens and Pencils
Straws
Paper clips
…and the list goes on.
Well, before you insert that object into your ears, I would like to inform you that it is harmful to attempt to clean your ears yourself. No item should be placed into your ears, in fact. Anyone in the medical field can tell you, they have seen many catastrophes resulting from using cotton swabs et al. From punctured ear drums to super impacted wax, there are many negative consequences associated with “do-it-yourself” ear cleaning.
The ear canal has specialized cells that produce cerumen, commonly known as ear wax. The ear wax accumulates and this could lead to a wax build-up that causes decreased ability to hear and in some instances, pain. Hence, as an easy way to avoid going to see a medical professional, many people resort to using swabs to remove the excess wax. While this may seem like an excellent alternative to spending countless minutes waiting in a doctor’s office waiting room, using a cotton swab and other objects may do more harm than good.
The ear drum is easily reached with a swab. However, because the ear drum is so delicate, it can be easily ruptured by using even the gentlest of pressure when using a swab. When this happens, a clear fluid may leak from the ear, and the pain that results from this is quite severe. Still, while a punctured ear drum will heal, it typically takes a while and can even lead to conductive hearing loss.
How then, you ask me, are you supposed to clean the wax from your ears? Guess what – you do not need to. Most times, when you shower or wash your hair, water gets into your ear- enough to loosen the wax and eventually flush it out. In addition, the ear canal helps to do most of its cleaning job itself. It is shaped in a spiral fashion, so when it sloughs off, excess wax goes with it. If you suffer from excess wax build-up, then you can go to your doctor.
