Dos and Dont’s of Ear Cleaning

Believe it or not, but there are right and wrong ways of cleaning your ears. It seems like a relatively straightforward task, but a lot of people end up doing the wrong things. This includes using the wrong techniques, cleaning at the wrong times, and so on. To help make ear cleaning easier, we’ve compiled a short article focusing on the key things to do and not do.

Don’t use a cotton bud

It may shock you to know that cleaning your ears with a q-tip or cotton bud is a terrible idea. It doesn’t do much cleaning, but it does force earwax deeper into your ear canal. Needless to say, this is not something you want, as it just puts your ears in worse condition and makes your hearing bad too! They can be somewhat useful when you dab them in water and use them outside your ear, but never insert them.

Do understand when to clean your ears

You don’t always need to clean your ears every single day – or even once a week. It all depends on the type of person you are. If you wear headphones or earbuds a lot, then this can stop earwax from naturally removing itself. Therefore, you need to clean your ears more frequently than someone who doesn’t put things in their ears – preferably before you put them in your ears. Likewise, it’s always strongly advised by an audiologist that you clean your ears before wearing hearing protection devices like earplugs.

Don’t try strange treatments like ear candling

If you’ve ever suffered from an earwax problem, then you probably searched what to do online. Now, there are numerous blogs out there that will tell you to try something called ear candling. Basically, this is a procedure where you place a candle in your ear and light it. The theory is that this helps suck out your wax, but the reality is that it’s just a strange idea with no medical proof behind it at all. No audiologist in their right mind will recommend you do this as it’s dangerous on so many levels. For one, you’re literally playing with fire. Secondly, the wax from the candle will probably end up melting in your ear and causing issues for your eardrum.

Do use oil drops to soften the wax

One of the best things you can do to clean your ears and rid them of wax is applying some oil drops into your ear canals. These are available from pretty much any shop that sells medical goods. There’s nothing crazy about them, they’re literally just little drops of oil that help the wax melt and soften naturally in your ear. It can them unblock the canal and remove itself without you needing to stick anything deep into the canal.

Hopefully, these dos and don’ts of ear cleaning have taught you the right and wrong ways of cleaning your ears. It’s always recommended you speak to an audiologist if you’re having severe wax problems as they will help supply the right treatment and can advise you on how to clean your ears.