Our bodies produce all kinds of substances and people have different tolerance levels for them.
What can really be annoying is earwax. But believe it or not, these things actually serve a purpose and you have to be careful when it comes to removing them.
Here, the experts explain what you need to know about handling wax and cleaning your ears.
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First off, you probably don't need to clean your ears.
"For most people, ear wax doesn't need to be removed," says Dr. Erich P. Voigt, associate professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. "It's a protective layer of the ear canal. It is a waterproofing agent and has antimicrobial properties. This helps prevent outer ear infections.
Earwax not only protects your ears from water damage and infection, but also lubricates your ears and keeps the area from feeling dry and itchy. And like other parts of the body, the ears "clean" themselves, so the insides don't need to be washed.
"Think from an evolutionary perspective," says Dr. Lawrence R. Lustig, Chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. "If Mother Nature designed an ear that needed cleaning, that would be a bad design. We didn't have ear cleaners 500,000 years ago.
He described the system as a "skin treadmill".
"Earwax is a combination of skin and oil," says Lustig. "The skin migrates from the eardrum to the outside of the ear canal, and as these dead skin cells migrate, they mix with the sebum glands in the ear canal at the exit, that's where you get the wax."
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Some people have a migration problem by producing too much wax or wax with an abnormal consistency. They can be prone to earwax infections and require a medical procedure to remove earwax, which can clog the ear and affect hearing. But for most of us, as we go about our daily lives, the wax naturally disappears.
"The body has a system to create and expel wax," says Dr. Bradley B. Block, otolaryngologist, head and neck surgeon and host of the Physician's Guide to Doctoring podcast. "When you chew and speak, the skin in your ear canal moves, causing earwax to leak out. A disruption in this system can allow earwax to enter and build up, clogging the ear canal, so cleaning your ears can have the paradoxical effect of blocking the ear.
But if you insist, don't use cotton swabs.
If you ask people what cotton swabs (or cotton swabs) are used for, their answers will likely involve removing earwax. This practice is so widespread that Kevin James' character in Hitch has a dance move that mimics him cleaning his ears with a cotton swab.
But pop culture fans may also remember the brutal scene from Girls when Hannah inserts a cotton swab too far into her ear and accidentally punctures her eardrum. The packaging of Q-Tip products still carries a clear warning today: "Do not insert into ear canal."
In fact, cotton swabs can scratch the ear canal and cause bleeding or even damage the eardrum. Conclusion: Cleaning your ears with it is not a good idea.
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"Think of the diameter of the ear canal and the diameter of the swabs," says Lustig. "If you can't see what you're doing, you can salvage all that earwax with a cotton swab. Most of the time it acts like an embolism. When I have someone with an earwax infection, half the time it's because they used Q-Tips.
Aside from packing earwax deeper and causing it to get stuck in your ear, cleaning your ears with cotton swabs can lead to outer ear infections.
"Removing wax from the canal can also cause your skin to become dry, and dry skin can be itchy," Block adds. "This leads to a cycle of removing the wax with cotton swabs, which makes them itchy, then scraping them with cotton swabs, which makes them itchy, etc."
And bad news if you prefer to use ear candling: Among other potential harms, this method doesn't seem to work.
"Studies have been done to see how much wax comes out," says Lustig. "It doesn't seem to help at all and there is a risk of burning your ear in the process. It was all the rage for a while, but I think that trend has faded, although I'm sure ear candles will eventually rise from the dead like Lazarus.
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The best way to clean your ears is much simpler
If you still want to clean your ears, simply focus on the outer area and the earwax that is already coming out.
"My general recommendation for people is to let the body do its thing," says Lustig. "Let that skin migration happen on its own with the wax. Put a damp cloth on your finger and wipe away anything that gets into the entry point.
Block and Voigt recommended simply having the area cleaned through the normal process of showering and washing your hair.
"Just wipe down the outside with a soapy finger or a washcloth," says Block.
There are also products like Debrox drops that contain carbamide peroxide (a combination of hydrogen peroxide and urea) to help dissolve earwax.
"I'm going to use that a lot or just hydrogen peroxide," Lustig said. "Hydrogen peroxide softens these harder blocks. It's safe to use provided you don't have a hole in your eardrums, which most people don't have. Sometimes wax is very hard and we can use these mini tweezers called crocodile tweezers to remove it. Sometimes it is very soft and we suck on it.
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To clean the ear with a solution like Debrox (or a similar solution of hydrogen peroxide and water, for example), be sure to follow the directions on the product. Usually the process involves lying on your side, administering a few drops, waiting a few minutes, then sitting up and rubbing the area. Then you can usually use warm water in the shower to rinse the ear.
However, as mentioned above, you don't actually need to clean your earwax unless there's a problem, and even then it's best to have the process performed by a doctor.
"The ear canal is sensitive and has a lot of nerve endings," says Lustig. "A light touch that feels like a tingling elsewhere can really hurt the ear. So I wouldn't go and put things in there. And you have to be careful when rinsing your ear that you don't pierce the eardrum and jet it in the right place on the back wall.
See a doctor as soon as you notice a problem.
It's unlikely that you'll have a wax buildup problem, but if you do, be sure to seek professional help. If your ear canal is blocked, you may feel like you have plugs in your ears all the time, have trouble hearing, or feel like your voice rings when you speak.
Doctors can help remove the wax and check for other problems. Lustig noted that what some people mistake for a wax infection could actually be a more serious problem.
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"I've had patients with sudden hearing loss and when I look in the ear it's clear and there's no problem with the eardrum," he says. "It turned out that a virus entered the inner ear and caused damage there."
If you ever notice a sudden change in your hearing, you should make an appointment with a specialist as soon as possible.
"There are a number of things that can happen with a hearing change in the ear that are worrying or dangerous," said Lustig. "And there is a limited window of opportunity to process it. Some other things that can mimic hearing loss are much more dangerous.
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