How to Remove Ear Wax without Damaging the Ear

Our ear drums and ear canals are made up of delicate membranes and should not be tampered with in any way. Even cleaning them with Q tips is a huge risk. Doctors say that instead of cleaning the ear wax, Q tips more often than not push the wax further into the ear canal. This is quite dangerous as the wax may then get lodged in the inner ear and may even block or damage it.

Our ears are essentially self-cleaning organs. So there is really no need for us to clean them. In fact the ear wax is present for a reason. The ear wax actually protects our ears by preventing any foreign bodies such as dust, bacteria, and other germs from entering the ear. The ear wax also forms a protective layer in the ear canal, thereby preventing it from being damaged if water or other fluids enter it.

Remember, when you tamper with your ear canal, you are actually risking an infection or even worse, a damaged ear drum. This could lead to hearing loss and other complications. That being said, some people secrete a lot more ear wax than others. In such instances, the ears self-cleaning capacity is overrun by the excess wax and this wax could harden over a period of time and cause an uncomfortable feeling.

If you feel like your ears are being blocked by such hardened ear wax then it is best to see your doctor and ask for his advice.

If you feel the ear wax is blocking your ears and giving you a ear ache or partial hearing loss, then you may try using a few drops of mineral oil, glycerine, or baby oil to soften the wax. Some people prefer to irrigate their ear with lukewarm water to clean out the wax. But this is a highly unsafe method. It is never a good idea to flood your ears with water. Water might damage the membranes and even lead to infection. You can ask your doctor to prescribe ear drops for you to soften the wax.

When you clean your ears, always clean only the outer ear. Never use a Q tip to reach into the inner canal. By doing so, you will just be paving the way for a host of other complications.

While Q tips are bad enough, some people go a step further and use anything from safety pins to a rolled up piece of paper to clean their ears. Such objects are enemies to your ears and could easily result in some unfortunate accident. So please refrain from such careless behaviour and never tamper with your ears.

One horrific practice to supposedly remove ear wax is candling the ear. It basically involves placing a cone-shaped device in the ear canal with the intention of removing earwax with the help of smoke or a burning wick. Doctors have proven that this technique is ineffective and again, like many of the other “ear cleaning” methods, should be avoided at all cost. But it is still quite prevalent and many alternative medicine practitioners even prescribe it as a treatment to cure ear ache.

Frequent cleaning of the ears can actually strip it of the protective layer of ear wax and make the ears highly susceptible to infections and other damage. So the next time you reach for an ear bud, ask yourself if you really need it. Most of us have been under the wrong impression that we are cleaning our ears and keeping them free from dirt when in fact we have been doing just the opposite. So vow to yourself that you will break out of this bad habit that you’ve cultivated over the years.