Just to save time, the short answer is that you shouldn’t do it yourself. This is a job for the professionals. Keep reading to find out why.
Let’s start with what earwax actually is.
The official term for earwax is cerumen. It’s job is to keep your ear canals from drying out, trapping dust and other small particles, and keeps bacteria from causing infections.
Because of the way your ear is designed to work, the wax slowly moves out of your ear, dries up and falls out along with dead skin cells, and anything that has gotten trapped in it.
When you stick a cotton swab in your ear to clean out excess wax you are just asking for trouble.
The number one issue is that you are removing the cerumen that is actually keeping your ears from getting infections, and is preventing your ear canals from getting dry and cracking.
Additionally, you can inadvertently actually jam the wax further into your ears, causing blockages that you can’t hear around.
We’ve also heard stories of people getting creative with their bobby pins and other small devices…
Please don’t ever do that. The rule of thumb is, “don’t stick anything in your ear smaller than your elbow”. Obviously, your elbow isn’t ever going to fit in your ear…and that’s exactly why we say that.
Have you heard of ear candling?
There are videos all over the internet about this. You lie down, holding a candle in your ear while it burns. It supposedly draws out all the gunk from your ears.
We recommend you do not try this. You just end up with candle wax in your ears in addition to the natural cerumen you already had.
Afraid you might have impacted ear wax?
You might. If you are experiencing difficulty hearing, dizziness, pain in your ears, ringing in your ears, itching or drainage from your ear canal – it might be due to impacted ear wax.
This is not a DIY situation – you need to get to a hearing care professional and have it handled the right way.
Back to what we said from the beginning. The short answer on removing ear wax is – don’t. Leave it to the people who know what they are doing.
Give us a call. Make an appointment. Change your life.
Still have questions about how to clean your ears and remove earwax? Here at Anderson Audiology we are committed to better hearing and committed to you! Contact us today and schedule an appointment.