Ears Cleaning Mistakes

Do you clean your ears with cotton swabs? Many people do, but contrary to popular belief, cleaning your ears in this way is usually unnecessary and can also be potentially dangerous.

If you leave your ears alone, they are self-cleaning. Your earwax will eventually fall out of your ears naturally. There’s usually no need to physically remove your ear wax.

Sticking any foreign object in your ears, poses a risk of injury. If your ear drum is punctured, you can get a middle ear infection. If any of the 3 tiny bones of your middle ear are damaged, this can cause the leakage of fluid from the inner ear. This leakage could cause significant vertigo and possibly a permanent hearing loss.

Are You Making These Five Ear-Cleaning Mistakes?

Boris Chernobilsky, MD, is an assistant clinical professor of otolaryngology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. He shared five common habits that may be putting your ears at risk. The article link will give you his explanation of these 5 common mistakes in more detail.

1. Cleaning Your Ears Regularly

2. Inserting Cotton Swabs in Your Ears

3. Inserting Any Pointy Object in Your Ears

4. Ear Candling

5. Rinsing With a Syringe

Safe Ways to Remove Earwax

An otolaryngologist, who is also known as an ear, nose and throat doctor (ENT), can remove earwax using a special suction and miniature instruments. If your eardrum is perforated, manual removal by a physician is recommended.

According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, the simplest way to remove earwax at home is to first soften the wax by placing a few drops of olive oil, coconut oil or water in your ear. Then, pour a capful of 3% hydrogen peroxide in each ear to flush the wax out. It’s worth noting that using plain sterile water, or a sterile saline solution, to soften earwax works just as well as oil or over-the-counter eardrops.

As an aside, the hydrogen peroxide trick (pouring a capful of 3% hydrogen peroxide in your ears) also works remarkably well at resolving respiratory infections, like colds and flu. You will hear some bubbling, which is completely normal, and possibly feel a slight stinging sensation. Wait until the bubbling and stinging subside (usually 5 to 10 minutes) then drain onto a tissue and repeat with the other ear.

It’s also worth noting that frequent excess buildup of earwax can oftentimes be traced back to an omega-3 deficiency. The remedy for this is quite simple: eat more omega-3s or take a high-quality animal-based omega-3 supplement like krill oil. Good dietary sources of omega-3 include sardines, anchovies and wild-caught Alaskan salmon.

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