How many times have you used a cotton swab, or an earbud, to clean your ears? Do you think it helped you get rid of all the dirt and wax from your ears? Or did it leave you with an itchier ear and further discomfort? While you may think cleaning your ears with a cotton swab or bud is harmless, an ENT expert shares that it can do more harm than good. But to understand the risk, it is crucial to know what exactly happens inside your ear when you use a cotton swab to clean it.
Also Read: Harmless Ear Bud Can Trigger Tinnitus, How to Safely Clean Your Ears?
What Happens When You Clean Your Ears With A Cotton Swab?
In an interaction with the OnlyMyHealth team, Dr Shamik Mehta, ENT Surgeon, Narayana Hospital, Ahmedabad, explains, "The words ‘ear cleaning’ could indicate that our ears have some dirt that needs to be removed. However, our ears do not act as waste bins collecting dirt. What comes out of the ears is earwax, which is a dry form of the ceruminous gland’s discharge."
Ceruminous glands, present in the skin of the ear canal, produce a sticky discharge called cerumen. This dries up to form earwax. The stickiness of the wax acts as a barrier that prevents insects from entering the ears.
So, when you use a cotton bud to clean your ears, you can cause more harm by pushing earwax deeper into the ear canal, leading to blockages and impaction, or by puncturing the eardrum. This can result in hearing loss, pain, inflammation, and other serious injuries.
Cotton swabs also disrupt the ear's natural self-cleaning process, and it's best to avoid inserting them into the ear canal to prevent damage and infection.
“Cotton Swabs Can Do More Harm Than Good”
According to Dr Mehta, the ceruminous discharge (or earwax) usually comes out on its own because of the chewing motion of the jaws. There is usually no need to remove it.
However, sometimes wax can accumulate and cannot come out on its own. This may obstruct the ear canal. If this happens, attempts to remove earwax with earbuds can cause more harm than help. This is because it pushes the wax deeper inside the ear and increases the obstruction. "Doing so could injure the eardrum or cause skin to get scratched by the earbud tip," he adds.
A 2005 study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine looked at how often people use cotton buds to clean their ears and the risks that come with it. Out of 1,000 patients invited at an ENT clinic, 325 responded, and more than half admitted to using cotton buds despite long-standing medical advice against it. Many respondents were unaware that cotton buds can push wax deeper, cause infections, or even perforate the eardrum. The researchers concluded that even though not everyone who uses cotton buds gets injured, the risks are real, and manufacturers’ warnings should be made stronger and clearer.
Also Read: ENT Care: Why You Shouldn't Use Cotton Swabs In Your Ears
Safer Alternatives To Clean Your Ears
“The best way to remove the wax is to install wax-dissolving drops for four or five days as prescribed by the ENT and get it removed under direct supervision in the clinic/hospital,” advises Dr Mehta.
He adds that ENT doctors usually use a probe to see how much obstruction there is and remove the deposit using a microsuction device or irrigate the ear to gently remove the wax.
While this typically is done in one sitting, if the wax is very hard or the obstruction is deep, the individual may require an additional sitting. Cotton swabs are not recommended at all to clean earwax.
When To Seek Professional Help?
Some of the signs that a person requires professional help include:
- Extremely dry external auditory canal
- Itching
- Recurrent wax formation despite cleaning
- Ear infection with pain and discomfort
- Bleeding from ear due to injury
- Hard wax lodged deep inside the ear
Your ENT will advise the best course of action for any of these issues. Exercise caution not to use cotton tip swabs or self-medicate, Dr Mehta concludes.