What makes up 'EAR WAX' ?

Question

This question isn't meant to be a joke. What secretes this wax and how does it solidify?

Answer 1

Sweat glands inside the outer ear canal make it. It oils ear canal tissues and protects the ear drum. Everyone makes ear wax, although some people make more than others.

Earwax is made in the outer ear canal. This is the area between the fleshy part of the ear on the outside of your head (the part you can see) and the middle ear. The skin in the outer ear canal has special glands that produce earwax. The fancy name for this waxy stuff is cerumen (say: suh-roo-mun).

After the wax is produced, it slowly makes its way through the outer ear canal to the opening of the ear. Then it either falls out or is removed when you wash. In most people, the outer ear canal makes earwax all the time, so the canal always has enough wax in it.

So why do we need wax? Earwax has two important jobs. First, it contains special chemicals that fight off infections that could hurt the skin inside the ear canal. Second, it acts as a shield between the outside world and the eardrum. When dust, dirt, and other things enter your ear, the earwax traps them so they can't travel any further.

If you want to get rid of earwax, pay close attention to what to do: nothing! Most kids don't need to do anything special to remove earwax. If you wash your hair regularly, this is enough to keep your ears clean. Don't use a cotton swab, your finger, or anything else to poke around inside your ear to remove earwax. Your ear canal and eardrum are very delicate, and you may hurt them or cause bleeding by trying to get rid of wax this way. Poking around in your ear can also push and pack the wax in further.

In some kids, one or both ear canals make extra earwax. If this sounds like you, tell an adult. Doctors often can prescribe special medicines that are placed in the ear to get rid of extra wax.

Updated and reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD
Date reviewed: August 2003
Originally reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD, and Neil Izenberg, MD

Answer 2

Cerumen is produced in the outer third of the cartilaginous portion of the human ear canal. It is a mixture of viscous secretions from sebaceous glands and less-viscous ones from modified apocrine sweat glands.[2] The primary components of earwax are the final products in the HMG-CoA reductase pathway, namely, squalene, lanosterol, and cholesterol.

Two distinct genetically determined types of earwax are distinguished -- the wet-type which is dominant, and the dry type which is recessive. Asians and Native Americans are more likely to have the dry type of cerumen (grey and flaky), whereas Caucasians and Africans are more likely to have the wet type (honey-brown to dark-brown and moist).[3] Cerumen type has been used by anthropologists to track human migratory patterns, such as those of the Inuit.[4]

The difference in cerumen type has been tracked to a single base change (an SNP) in a gene known as "ATP-binding cassette C11 gene". In addition to affecting cerumen type, this mutation also reduces sweat production. The researchers conjecture that the reduction in sweat was beneficial to the ancestors of East Asians and Native Americans who are thought to have lived in cold climates.[5]

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Answer 3

the wax glands in the ear and it produces earwax continuously
so that if you dont clean your ears you end up deaf.

Answer 4

Some glands that form in the ear.

Answer 5

skin oils, same as what you excrete beside your nose, it also usually has trapped skin and hair particles in it.