Doctors are warning us we shouldn’t try to clean our ears with cotton buds – or any other object.

The American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation has updated its clinical guidelines on earwax and how to keep ears healthy. It says poking around in your ear to remove wax can cause of range of health problems, including hearing loss, itching and ringing in the ears.

Earwax ‘is beneficial’

According to Dr Seth Schwartz, who chaired the guideline group, “There is an inclination for people to want to clean their ears because they believe earwax is an indication of uncleanliness. This misinformation leads to unsafe ear health habits.”

A desire to remove wax or an annoying itch in the ear drives many of us to search out the cotton buds. However, advice has always warned us against a do-it-yourself approach.

The NHS says that trying to remove a build-up of earwax using fingers, cotton buds or any other object can damage the ear and push the wax deeper into the ear canal.

Experts agree that earwax, or cerumen, is a normal substance that cleans, protects and ‘oils’ the ears. Dirt and dust stick to the wax, preventing particles from getting further into the ear.

The new clinical practice guideline says there is usually no need to remove earwax manually, because this job is done when we chew, move our jaws and when new skin grows inside the ear canal.

Cotton buds, paper clips and other objects

Dr Schwartz says in a statement: “Patients often think that they are preventing earwax from building up by cleaning out their ears with cotton swabs, paper clips,ear candles, or any number of unimaginable things that people put in their ears.

“The problem is that this effort to eliminate earwax is only creating further issues because the earwax is just getting pushed down and impacted further into the ear canal.

“Anything that fits in the ear could cause serious harm to the ear drum and canal with the potential for temporary or even permanent damage.”

Impacted earwax can cause symptoms including ear pain, itching, feeling of fullness in the ear, ringing in the ear (tinnitus), hearing loss, discharge coming from the ear, odour coming from the ear, cough, and/or change in hearing aid function.

‘Don’t use ear candles’

The guideline is specific about the use of ear candles, a traditional remedy for removing earwax. It says there is no evidence they can remove impacted earwax and could cause serious damage to the ear canal and eardrum.

The guideline acknowledges that at times, the ear’s self-cleaning process might not work very well, leading to a build-up of earwax. When this happens, earwax can collect and block, or partly block, the ear canal. It estimates that excessive or impacted earwax is present in 1 in 10 children, 1 in 20 adults and more than a COOL RIGHT?? THATS NOT ALL OH..COMPLETE THE STORY HERE http://healthorl.org.ng/warning-ear-cleaning-cotton-buds/

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So we shld allow d wax in our ears?. It makes us look unkempt