Earwax, also medically termed as cerumen, is a brown, orange, red, yellowish or gray waxy substance secreted in the ear canal of humans and other mammals. It protects the skin of the human ear canal, assists in cleaning and lubrication, and provides protection against bacteria, fungi and water.
For self-cleansing and defense, the ear produces earwax, thereby making it crucial to take care of your earwax. It is secreted by the skin-covered glands that border the outside of your ear canals. The earwax and tiny hairs in the ear capture dust and other foreign objects that can harm more delicate structures, like your eardrum.
There are myths about earwax which make people uncomfortable and eager to remove any small buildup in short time intervals.
Some mythical statements include ” earwax is bad, you need to regularly clean your ears, earwax is caused by poor hygiene, earwax can be effectively removed with ear candles, et cetera.
The use of cotton swabs to clean one’s ear is a common practice which people have normalized in their basic body cleaning routines but in actual sense has proven to be a harmful act.
The constant advice given by doctors is “You should not use cotton swabs to clean your ears” but people turn a deaf ear to this advice.
Cotton swabs and other smaller objects used in our ear can dislocate our hearing bones, cut our ear canals, and perforate our eardrums. Additionally, any of these conditions could result in hearing loss, drowsiness, ringing, or other ear injury symptoms.
Doctor David Meuler, a pediatrics specialist spoke about potential ear injuries on a news forum and according to him, “cotton swabs or any poking device used to clean the ear can do more damage than we imagine”. Using cotton swabs can cause injuries or abrasions to the ear canal which can be painful and lead to infections in the longrun. Far worse significant injuries will cause damage to the eardrum itself.
Author-Roberta Appiah
