Why you shouldn’t use cotton buds to clean your ears!
We’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth saying again – do not use cotton buds to remove earwax!
Believe it or not, you actually need earwax. It’s your body’s way of cleaning and protecting your ears. We all produce it, although some more than others, but the amount you create is based on your genetics just like hair color and height.
Earwax only causes a problem if it builds up, hardens or obstructs the ear canal, then you should see a professional to have it removed.
Why cotton buds are a bad idea
There are plenty of reasons why using cotton buds is a bad idea.
For a start, when you use them, you’re pushing the wax further into your ear, making it harder to get out. Pushing that earwax back can also create a dam, trapping water which you might even be able to hear as it slooshes around!
There’s also the physical damage a cotton bud can do. If you push too far, you can rupture your eardrum, as well as all those little delicate hairs that are essential for hearing.
And then there’s the very real possibility of the bud breaking off and getting stuck in your ear.
Think these are just old wives’ tales? Here are three real life examples of that very thing happening.
Football has to go hospital after getting cotton bud stuck in his ear
Ok, to be fair, footballers aren’t exactly known for their intellectual prowess, but Mark Shelton of Hartlepool United should’ve known better.
As reported by the BBC, the 25-year-old pushed too far and had to go to hospital, missing a match in the process.
Coventry man gets skull infection
A 31-year-old man in Coventry started suffering seizures and eventually collapsed, leading to an ambulance rushing him to hospital.
The man told the doctors that he had been having pain and discharge in his left ear for about 10 days, along with severe headaches, nausea and vomiting. He even found himself struggling to recall people’s names.
A CT scan showed the existence of a severe bacterial infection — one that had spread from the man’s left ear into the bone at the base of his skull.
The culprit, of course, was a cotton bud, enclosed by wax and surrounded by other debris, probably in there for years.
Doctors removed the cotton bud, cleaned his ear canal and treated the patient with antibiotics. All traces of the infection vanished after 10 weeks and the man remains well, without any lingering neurological problems or ear symptoms.
Man almost went deaf
Dr Neel Raithatha, an audiologist from Leicestershire, as put a video on his YouTube channel showing an actual procedure to remove a cotton bud tip from a patients ear canal.
The patient thought he was going deaf, and in a way he was, but thanks to Dr Raithatha, the tip was removed and the patient recovered his hearing. You can see Neel’s YouTube channel below, but be warned, it’s only for those who have the stomach for it!
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