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Sorry, But Experts Say You Should Not Be Using Earwax Removal Kits

Ah, TikTok, home of makeup tutorials, lip-syncing tunes, cute animal content and—earwax removal videos? Yes, it’s true, that goopy amber stuff on your For You page is coming out of someone’s ear canal. And, if you find that you’re weirdly into it, you’re not alone.

Earwax removal content is soaring in popularity on TikTok; the hashtag #earwax has racked up thousands of videos, collectively reaching 5.1 billion views (graphic material at that link). The content ranges from in-office extractions performed by Ear, Nose & Throat doctors to at-home videos of people using various tools to get the sticky stuff out.

The options for earwax removal kits and techniques seem endless.…

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Featured

 How to Clean Your Ears (Properly), According to ENTs

Cleaning your ears is often a private, gross moment between you and a Q-tip, but according to ENTs, if you know what’s good for you, you’d stop fussing with your ears completely.

 Wax on, wax off? Why cleaning your ears might do more harm than good

Are you the type who loves to dig your ears? It might feel enjoyable but there's a danger to it. And guess what, you might not need to clean your ears, after all.

Articles of Interest

The Whole Ball of Wax: A Longer Than Normal Post About Your Cerumen

So what do you do with your ears? The first question is why do you think you have to do anything? If it’s just wax, it’s supposed to be in there.

How to clean your ears

The best advice is never to put anything smaller than your elbow in them, says a hearing specialist.

Cerumen Impaction

Manual removal with a curette is a long-recognized method for clearing the ear canal and is considered effective, but no published trials have compared it (or any other manual method) with other removal methods. There also are no controlled trials comparing the different irrigation tools.

Clearing Wax Buildup With a Candle in the Ear

Ear candling, also called coning, involves hollow candles made from a cylinder of fabric covered with wax. They are put in the ear canal and allowed to burn down in a process some practitioners claim creates a "negative pressure" that sucks wax, fungus and other impurities out of the ear and up through the candle. So wax and ashes don't drip on you, the candle is placed through a hole in a disposable pie tin or Styrofoam plate wrapped in aluminum foil.

Doctors admonish us to leave earwax alone. Why won’t anyone listen?

Earwax is useful stuff. Some ancient physicians smeared it onto wounds as a soothing salve. Others thought its taste should be used as a diagnostic tool: a hint of sweetness, one doctor wrote, was a sign of impending death. Even today, doctors say it’s the most natural of soaps, carrying dead skin cells and debris out of hearing’s way.

Ear wax removal interventions: a systematic review and economic evaluation

The study found limited good-quality evidence, which makes it difficult to differentiate between the various methods for removing ear wax. Although the study was able to show that softeners have an effect in clearing earwax in their own right and as precursors to irrigation, it remains uncertain which specific softeners are superior.

How to Remove Earwax: Don't Use WaterPik, Candle or Q-tip

And whatever you do, don't stick a tube in your ear and light it on fire. "The granddaddy of all the bad things to do are the so-called ear candles," Rosenfeld said.

If you make one health resolution this year, it should be to stop cleaning your ears

The best thing you can do to clean your ears is to leave them alone.

It’s International Ear Care Day! You’re cleaning your ears wrong

Surprisingly, not much research has been done on our predilection for earwax spelunking. But a small study in 2005 found that just over half of respondents at an ear, nose, and throat clinic used cotton swabs to clean their ear canals.

Nature’s Ear Plugs

The yellow stuff in the outer part of the ear canal, scientifically named cerumen, is only partly a waxy substance, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The rest of the so-called wax is an accretion of some dust and lots of dead skin cells, which normally collect in the passage as they are shed.

The Best Way to Clean Your Ears: With a Spoon

Doctors strongly discourage people from scraping inside their ears. But knowing better and doing it anyway is part of what makes us human.

The Good, the Bad and the Eww of Earwax Removal

Ears are supposed to be self-cleaning. So what's behind the fascination some people have to help nature along?

We Talked to the Guy Behind YouTube’s Most Satisfying Earwax Removal Videos

The good doctor also shows you exactly how much gunk he pulls out of the ear in question at the end of each video by lining up the wax and dead skin next to a ruler. Gross! Great! Wow!

What’s the best way to clean out my ears?

There is a vast array of items on sale which say they will clean your ears or remove ear wax, but do any actually help?

What’s wrong with traditional ear irrigation or syringing?

Syringing and ear irrigation aim to remove wax blockages by squirting water into the ear canal and behind the blockage, in the hope that the water will build up enough pressure behind the blockage to push the wax out. It’s a slightly counter-intuitive process because to get the wax out; you have to push water in, and this has many risks, including the risk of pushing the wax further into the ear canal. As the nurse cannot accurately see deep inside the canal, it is also not possible to perform an ear examination behind the blockage first. If water is squirted into an already-perforated eardrum or a middle-ear infection, there is a risk of re-perforation.

You Asked: Should I Use Q-tips to Clean My Ears?

It says right there on the packaging: “Do not insert swab into ear canal.” Speak with an ear-nose-and-throat doctor, and you’ll hear the same thing.

Resources

Should You Use Q-Tips to Clean Your Ears?

There is a proper way to use Q-Tips and there is an improper way. If you’re putting them in your ears, you’re using them the improper way.

StatPearls: Ear Irrigation

Some providers may choose to soften the wax before irrigation. Multiple agents may be used including mineral oil, 1% sodium docusate solutions, and carbamyl peroxide solutions.