You are probably one of the many people who grew up cleaning out the inside of your ears with Q-tips and still do it every day as part of your daily hygiene routine.
However, there’s been a lot of research that indicates that cleaning the inside of your own ears can represent a bid health problem.
What Happens When You Clean Your Ears
When you put a Q-tip into your ear, you believe that you are scrubbing the ear wax out of your ears. Actually, all you’re doing is pushing the ear wax (also known as cerumen) further into your ear. And when it gets that far back, it’s harder for the ears to do what they do naturally: clean ear wax out.
Ear wax exists in our ears for a reason. It protects the inside of the ears from water, essentially waterproofing them. When we remove the wax, we expose our ears to infection. Rubbing the inside of the ears sets off a cycle. It triggers the release of histamines, making our skin itchy and swollen. And people start cleaning their ears to get some relief. But they actually further irritate their ears and push the wax further back into the canal.
What You Should do Instead
There’s a saying that goes, “Don’t put anything inside your ear that’s smaller than your elbow.” Of course, this means that you shouldn’t put anything in your ear. Instead, you should let your ears do their job. When the ear wax dries out and stops lubricating the ear, the ear naturally removes the wax. Once we break the cycle of wax removal, our ears should feel more comfortable and less irritated.
Though the ears are supposed to remove wax on their own, this doesn’t always happen the way it should. People who have thicker-than-normal wax or their ears simply don’t work as efficiently as they ought, they might indeed have a problem with wax buildup.
If you have a heavy wax buildup, you should see a doctor and find out what the next step is. In many cases, they do a quick in-office procedure to blast out impacted ear wax and clean out your ears. They may then want you to do a regular cleaning routine, which might involve using a mixture of vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and water in your ears.
In any case, you should only do this under the instruction of a doctor, as you don’t want to dry out your ears or get rid of your natural wax supply.
Next time you think that your ears are congested or you’re tempted to reach for a cotton swab, resist the urge! Remember all that wax does for your ears and let it do its work. Visit a doctor if earwax is causing real issues with your hearing or balance.
