You wouldn’t believe it, but when your mom taught you to clean your ears, she was wrong! For most of us, the habit of cleaning our ears after a shower is still there, and based on the results it usually yields seems rightfully so. We all love the feeling of getting “crap” out of our body, especially when it comes out in such an odd and sticky yellowish-orange substance.
However, research suggests that not only is having earwax (cerumen) in our ears healthy for our body, but removing it with a cotton swab could in fact be dangerous.
You wouldn’t believe it, but when your mom taught you to clean your ears, she was wrong! For most of us, the habit of cleaning our ears after a shower is still there, and based on the results it usually yields seems rightfully so. We all love the feeling of getting “crap” out of our body, especially when it comes out in such an odd and sticky yellowish-orange substance.
However, research suggests that not only is having earwax (cerumen) in our ears healthy for our body, but removing it with a cotton swab could in fact be dangerous.
Using cotton swabs to clean your ears can cause ear infections as well as long term hearing damage. Simply put, you should never insert anything into your ear. Furthermore, earwax (aka cerumen) isn’t necessarily dirty.
Produced by glands in your ear, cerumen has antibacterial proprietress and acts as part of your body’s defense system, lubricating and cleaning the ear canal. There are a number of ways to clean your ears without depleting said cerumen (or damaging your ears) and you’re far better off using one of these.
- Use Q-tips to clean only the outer part of the ear and the area around the canal.
- Don’t push the cotton swab deeper in the ear to avoid pushing earwax and bacteria. This can plug the ear and cause you hearing problems and dizziness.
- Use special cotton swabs for children i.e. the one that are specially designed to prevent intrusion into the ear canal.
Source: sportonlinegroup.com
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