Ear Wax

[lockmat]

Cleaning my ears properly is a mystery. How do you do it, if it all? According to this WebMD article, you shouldn't, except if a doctor does it.

I need to clean my out at least once a week. I know people who do it everyday. I normally use a q-tip but apparently that's the worst thing you can do. I sort of knew that, but how else am I supposed to keep them clean?

Here's an excerpt from the article:

One thing you definitely don't want to do is get rid of all your earwax. Earwax isn't dirt. It's a normal secretion that protects your ear, just the way other kinds of wax protect your car.

If water gets in your ear canal -- while you're swimming or taking a shower, for instance -- earwax will cause the water to bead up and move away from your eardrum. Then the slipperiness of the wax encourages the water to run out of the canal. In addition, earwax is slightly acidic, which discourages bacterial or fungal growth in the moist, dark ear canal. Without earwax, it would be much harder to avoid ear infections. In a way, it's part of a self-cleaning system. Most people don't need to do any ear maintenance at all. Earwax slowly migrates toward the opening of the ear canal and is sloughed off. If you want, you can take a washcloth and, using your finger, gently wash the opening of your ear.

It's just wax, but I'm sure still a touchy subject. What do yall think?

forgot the link: http://www.webmd.com/content/article/42/1685_50320

[Mr. Chenevert]

And if you dont clean out your ears, eventually you will get a wax blockage which can lead to an ear infection which can quickly lead to a full body infection and be extremely painful.

I use Debrox (sp?) which was recommended to me by an Ear Nose and Throat doctor. Just once a month or so to prevent buildup.

[Chamo]

1 Q-tip a day for me..... Not what the doctor ordered

[OkieEric]

Cleaning my ears properly is a mystery. How do you do it, if it all? According to this WebMD article, you shouldn't, except if a doctor does it.

I need to clean my out at least once a week. I know people who do it everyday. I normally use a q-tip but apparently that's the worst thing you can do. I sort of knew that, but how else am I supposed to keep them clean?

Here's an excerpt from the article:

It's just wax, but I'm sure still a touchy subject. What do yall think?

forgot the link: http://www.webmd.com/content/article/42/1685_50320

I'm personally an every day with a q-tip kinda guy, preferably after a shower. However, a friend of my girlfriend's was apparently walking around and using one at the same time - not sure of the details, but a car door was somehow involved and the guy wound up deaf in an ear!

I also have a random story from college involving ear wax - I'm sure everyone is dying to hear. I got hit in the ear during an intramural football game, which I later found out slightly punctured my ear drum. Well I first went to the on-campus little clinic there and they cleaned my ear with a gush of water - the next thing I know, they had multiple physicians coming in to look at what was going in on my ear. There was apparently some sort of "growth" that they actually wound up sketching out for me on a piece of paper. Needless to say, I was flippin' out and in pain the next week or so until I could get into an actual ENT specialist. The growth?? Ear wax those dumba$$es had flushed onto my ear drum

[sevfiv]

Some people have to worry about this more than others...I have never had ear issues, but my sister always did (narrow ear canals i think). Those are the folks that need to put the chemicals in the ears.

And yeah, q-tips (yay for proprietary eponyms - what's a generic name for them?) just push stuff into the ear - should only be used on the exterior.

and ps - very lovely topic

[Vertigo58]

Everyone focuses so much on the inside but should also note the outside of the ear.

Pretty nasty to be standing next to someone and the ears glisten like satellite dishes. Grody to the max.

[20thStDad]

The q-tip warning is along the same lines as the don't play with plastic bags warning. Yeah, if you are an idiot you can really do some damage. I do it everyday, the trick is not to shove it in your ear. You don't even need to get down in there, just clean the outside. I've never had any problems. Well, with q-tips. One time I was diving into a pool trying to catch a football, and I landed smack on my ear. Pretty sure I busted the eardrum or at least some kind of seal. When I came up everything sounded echo-ey, and I noticed that I could breathe straight out of my eustachian tube, out of my ear. Hurt like hell, but I was drunk, so I bummed a cigarette, and sure enough, could blow smoke out of my ear. Freaked some girls out. Also could blow bubbles out of it underwater. Also hurt like hell. But after 2-3 days it was back to normal, hasn't happened since and it's been at least 1000 q-tips ago.

[musicman]

And yeah, q-tips (yay for proprietary eponyms - what's a generic name for them?) just push stuff into the ear - should only be used on the exterior.

cotton swab.

[Vertigo58]

I could breathe straight out of my eustachian tube, out of my ear. Hurt like hell, but I was drunk, so I bummed a cigarette, and sure enough, could blow smoke out of my ear. Freaked some girls out. Also could blow bubbles out of it underwater.

Your killing me, in utter hysterics.

[lockmat]

And if you dont clean out your ears, eventually you will get a wax blockage which can lead to an ear infection which can quickly lead to a full body infection and be extremely painful.

I use Debrox (sp?) which was recommended to me by an Ear Nose and Throat doctor. Just once a month or so to prevent buildup.

I'll look into that, thanks.

[editor]

There are places in Japan where women in very short skirts will clean your ears for you. The main tool they use looks like a kind of dentist's hook, but with a loop on the end. Must be a picture on the internet somewhere...

Here's a Hello Kitty version, but it's not quite what I was thinking of.

Here's an article from the Japan Times about the parlors. You get to see the inside of your ear on TV.

[TheNiche]

The q-tip warning is along the same lines as the don't play with plastic bags warning. Yeah, if you are an idiot you can really do some damage. I do it everyday, the trick is not to shove it in your ear. You don't even need to get down in there, just clean the outside. I've never had any problems. Well, with q-tips. One time I was diving into a pool trying to catch a football, and I landed smack on my ear. Pretty sure I busted the eardrum or at least some kind of seal. When I came up everything sounded echo-ey, and I noticed that I could breathe straight out of my eustachian tube, out of my ear. Hurt like hell, but I was drunk, so I bummed a cigarette, and sure enough, could blow smoke out of my ear. Freaked some girls out. Also could blow bubbles out of it underwater. Also hurt like hell. But after 2-3 days it was back to normal, hasn't happened since and it's been at least 1000 q-tips ago.

I think it was middle school when I realized that I could do the same thing. Not much air could get through, but enough to create a tiny stream of bubbles when done under water. It wasn't comfortable, but it didn't hurt either.

[memebag]

Why do you need to clean your ear wax? I've never cleaned mine.

[crunchtastic]

Why do you need to clean your ear wax? I've never cleaned mine.

But I bet you're rethinking that now, huh? There's a Hello Kitty ear wax pick with your name on it.

[lockmat]

But I bet you're rethinking that now, huh? There's a Hello Kitty ear wax pick with your name on it.

lol, good one crunch.

You never have meme? You don't ever scratch an itch inside your ear and get a gob of wax on your finger nail?

Explicit, sorry

[ricco67]

...and I noticed that I could breathe straight out of my eustachian tube, out of my ear. Hurt like hell, but I was drunk, so I bummed a cigarette, and sure enough, could blow smoke out of my ear. Freaked some girls out. Also could blow bubbles out of it underwater.

Oh. My. God.

Like Sev, never had ear issues and usually only clean the exterior.

What is the next topic? Favorite brand of toilet paper and proper techniques?

[Vertigo58]

There was film called American Hot Wax, then House of Wax

and SexWax is used on surf boards right?

[lockmat]

What is the next topic? Favorite brand of toilet paper and proper techniques?

you can choose NOT to rubber neck and move right along to the earthquest thread or something, lol

[memebag]

But I bet you're rethinking that now, huh? There's a Hello Kitty ear wax pick with your name on it.

Totally, but I'd use it as a swizzle stick.

You never have meme? You don't ever scratch an itch inside your ear and get a gob of wax on your finger nail?

Once or twice, but that didn't make me start trying to scrub the wax out of my ears. My body is full of gross stuff that's there for a perfectly good reason.

[Original Timmy Chan's]

Totally, but I'd use it as a swizzle stick.

Once or twice, but that didn't make me start trying to scrub the wax out of my ears. My body is full of gross stuff that's there for a perfectly good reason.

I'm with memebag. I stick a Q-Tip in my ear about once every five years.

I do dig around in my ears with my fingers every day, however. You can only imagine the money I've saved on Q-Tips over the years.

Suckers...

[sheeats]

There are places in Japan where women in very short skirts will clean your ears for you. The main tool they use looks like a kind of dentist's hook, but with a loop on the end. Must be a picture on the internet somewhere...

Here's a Hello Kitty version, but it's not quite what I was thinking of.

Here's an article from the Japan Times about the parlors. You get to see the inside of your ear on TV.

Little known fact: Asians have "dry," grey earwax while Caucasians and Africans have "wet," yellow earwax. The "wet" kind is a dominant gene. And scientists have used these earwax differences to track migratory patterns.

From Wikipedia:

Ear picks are a commonly used item and preferred for ear wax removal in East Asia. The dry type of ear wax found in persons of Asian extraction is particularly amenable to this type of removal, more so than the wet type of ear wax found in people of Caucasian or African origin.

It can be used individually or by another person. The person having their ears cleaned would lie down with their head in the lap of the person doing the cleaning. It is generally considered a pleasant feeling, like having one's back scratched. The cleaning of ears is thus considered an act of intimacy, often performed by a mother to a child or, among adults, by one's lover. It may also be performed by professional (non-medical) ear cleaners on the streets of cities in countries such as China, India, Japan, Vietnam, and other Asian countries.

The More You Know......

[KimberlySayWhat]

Cleaning my ears makes me cough.

[OkieEric]

Does that Wikipedia entry on earwax really need that first photo? Heck, any photos...but hey, at least now I can visually distinguish between wet and dry earwax. Who knows when that might come in handy?

[lockmat]

You can only imagine the money I've saved on Q-Tips over the years.

Suckers...

$10?

[dbigtex56]

As a child, I produced earwax in staggering amounts. Few could hold a candle to me.

(wait for laughter to subside)

Seriously, I'd go to the doctor about once a year, and he'd poke this big stainless steel syringe filled with warm water in my ear, and flush out my sins, so to speak; I'd have to hold a plastic tray under my ear to catch the runoff and debris. Pretty soon large secretions would be swept out; chunks about the thickness of a pencil eraser, but considerably longer. Impressive specimens, but not always lovely.

Immediately, everything sounded loud. It would take a day or two before I became reaccustomed to normal hearing.

Such a relief that I can now discuss this topic, openly.

[RedScare]

Can't believe that no one has mentioned Hydrogen Peroxide. While I am generally a let earwax be sort of guy, occasionally it does build up to the point of interfering with my hearing. On those occasions, I drip hydrogen peroxide into my ear while laying on my side. It gets very loud with the fizziness. After awhile, the fizz subsides, and I sit up to let the wax and peroxide drain out.

It is actually quite fun, kind of like listen to a big conch shell.

[TheNiche]

$10?

When I first moved away from home and was stocking up on basic household necessities, I spotted a package of 500 q-tips with a really good two-for-one special. It think it was $5 total. So I bought them.

A little over six years later, I'm about two thirds of the way through the first box. Extrapolating that to 10 years, it'll probably have cost me about $2.50 to use q-tips for earwax removal.

[Original Timmy Chan's]

When I first moved away from home and was stocking up on basic household necessities, I spotted a package of 500 q-tips with a really good two-for-one special. It think it was $5 total. So I bought them.

A little over six years later, I'm about two thirds of the way through the first box. Extrapolating that to 10 years, it'll probably have cost me about $2.50 to use q-tips for earwax removal.

Awesome, now no one has to "imagine" how much money I've saved over the years. Now we know for certain.

I've probably saved at least $2.50 over the years. A penny saved is a penny earned.

See you in Monte Carlo, bitches.

[Vertigo58]

Cleaning my ears makes me cough.

Yeah! What's the deal with that?

Imagine that scary puppet sticking his finger in your ear...spooky.

[IronTiger]

I have a problem too. I can get out huge, disgusting blobs and red stains via kleenex...and sometimes my cat will lick the earwax right off my finger if I tempt her. It's fun, until she starts to nip at my finger.