Don’t put anything in your ear. I’ve seen people employ strange methods to clean their ears. Over the years (decades actually) I’ve advised folks not to clean their ears with any ingenious instruments—no bobby pins, tweezers, crochet needles, garage tools, bamboo skewers, paper clips, not even cotton swabs. I’ve written about the ills of this before (Ear Cleaning: Dos and Don’ts), and the gnarly consequences that can occur. I still see it, even patients whom I’ve admonished about the misbehavior before. And so, it bears repeating:
Don’t put anything in your ear!
This refers to any foreign object or device. Not even Q-tips, which were never designed for the ear anyway. Q-tips are a brand of cotton swabs, and like Kleenex, Q-tips became synonymous for any cotton swab, including those manufactured elsewhere. In fact, the Q-tip brand has on its package labelling a warning against use in the ear canal! I’ve seen people shove things farther with Q-tips, especially ear wax where it can impact deep and onto the ear drum, a chore to remove under the microscope (making it an unpleasant, i.e., painful experience). I guess warning labels are meant to be ignored.
Also don’t use Q-tips to dry your ears. Some people swear they “don’t go too far,” until they really do, feeling the need to get that last bit of water deep in the ear. I’ve seen some humdinger of ear maladies including ear drum perforations, lacerated canal skin, ear bleeding, or really painful otitis externa from “careful” use of Q-tips. And so:
Don’t put anything in your ear!
I’ve seen a few patients who’ve purchased these fiberoptic ear cameras that attach to their cell phones, so they can see deep into their ears. Some of these devices carry attachments to clean the ears, remove wax, etc. Yet, patients still come to the office having attempted this unsuccessfully on themselves, their child, a family member or their drunken friend. They then come to the ENT for help, since whatever plagued their ear before still plagues it, or they created another problem and made it worse. Again:
Don’t put anything in your ear!
Words to the wise: even doctors (well, most doctors) don’t treat themselves, even if the problem is within their own specialty.
The exception of course are solutions or medications designed specifically for the ear. If you really must remove water from the ear after showering, bathing or swimming, a more effective method is to drip over-the-counter rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) into the ear. Use a dropper or syringe to do this (NOT a Q-tip). Alcohol mixes with water and evaporates at a lower temperature than water, and thus makes a great drying agent. This is the reason alcohol (in the form of methanol) is used as a de-icer for cars (gas tanks, frozen locks, to melt windshield ice, etc.)
The liquid will even get all the way down to the ear drum, a place you shouldn’t venture with a Q-tip or other nifty device you’ve found around the house. You can mix in some white vinegar (acetic acid) with the alcohol to create an antiseptic rinse to clean the ears in general (acetic acid kills bacteria and fungi, must like alcohol).
I’ve provided instructions on safer and potentially more effective means to clean the ears (Ear Cleaning: Dos and Don’ts). This can help with removing wax as well (not always, and in those situations a trip to your doctor is needed). I’ll reiterate the method here, with drawings to prevent any miscommunication.
1. Fill the entire ear canal by dripping the alcohol or alcohol/vinegar mix (you can even use hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for dry, firm ear wax; H2O2 will effervesce and bubble, softening and loosening the wax, and its by products are O2 (oxygen) and H2O (sterile water). Use a little alcohol after to remove residual water that remains in the ear canal.
2. If you don’t have a dropper or syringe, use a cotton ball as a makeshift dropper to squeeze the liquid into the ear.
3. Mix the solution in the ear canal. This is similar to irrigating the canal. You can do this by placing your finger on the tragus, that flap of skin in front of the canal entrance, to close the canal. Then ‘pump” the tragus by pushing on it and releasing it, to move the solution about in the ear. This creates a little vortex to loosen and debris or wax, and to thoroughly mix with any trapped water to aid in its evaporation.
4. Let the solution drain by tilting your ear downward. Let gravity do the work, meaning, don’t use a Q-tip to dry the ear canal (which defeats the whole purpose of this regimen).
There you have it. And hope not to see you as a patient after some other, botched. ear-cleaning attempt.
©Randall
S. Fong, M.D.
For more topics on
medicine, health and the weirdness of life in general, check out the rest of
the blog site at randallfong.blogspot.com
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