How to clean your ears without damaging them
Do your ears really need cleaning? If they do, how to do it without causing damage?
ENT specialists around the world agree that ears generally don't need cleaning. Presence of cerumen or earwax is normal, according to experts. It actually helps protect and lubricate the ears. In its absence ears would be itchy and dry.
Along with having antibacterial properties, earwax is like a filter for harmful things like dirt and dust, trapping them so they can't go deep inside.
When we move our jaws while chewing, old earwax comes out of the ear canal to the ear opening. Eventually it dries up and falls out.
So the cleaning mechanism of the ear is self-sufficient. Problem occurs when one tries to insert anything like a cotton bud and actually pushes the wax in deeper.
Swabbing or sticking pointy objects inside the ear can cause serious problems like infection, rupture of the eardrum and significant loss of hearing.
However, if too much earwax builds up and starts to cause feelings of fullness inside the ear or hearing loss, you might have something called cerumen impaction.
The risk of developing impacted earwax is generally low, but increases with age as the inner ear becomes drier. People who use hearing aids are also more likely to develop impaction.
If you have symptoms of wax impaction, you need to check with your doctor instead of trying to do something about it yourself.
If your problem isn't serious, the best way to clean your ears is to gently clean the outside of your ears with a wet washcloth using your index finger.
You can also try putting a few drops of baby oil, mineral oil, or glycerin in your ear to soften the wax so it can come out naturally.
But inserting anything, even cotton buds, inside your ears is a big no.
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