What's up with ear candling?

Answer 1

Its suppose to help remove ear wax, though from what I read it isn't the safest or smartest means to do this.
A simple water/peroxide solution would safely help remove the wax.

Some even say it's a hoax, http://skepdic.com/coning.html

I also found infomation on the danger involved this in a previous 'Yahoo Answers' question. (See link below)

Candling poses several dangers, the most serious of which involve burning caused by the hot wax. Candle manufacturers claim that their candles will drip only down the outside of the ear, but shamefully few direct the user to hold the candle horizontally to prevent this. A 1996 survey of 144 ear, nose, and throat physicians, found that 14 had seen patients who had been harmed by ear candling, including at least 13 cases of external burns, 7 cases of ear canal obstruction with candle wax, and 1 perforated eardrum [3].

Another case was reported by The London Free Press, a Canadian newspaper. A woman who experienced stuffiness in the nose and ear pains while scuba diving went to a local health-food store and was referred to a "qualified" candler. During the "treatment," she felt an intense burning in her ear. At the emergency room, attempts to remove wax that had dripped from the candle onto her eardrum failed. Surgery was required, and a hole in her eardrum was discovered, which presumably was caused by the procedure. She recovered fully, and luckily her hearing was not affected. The practitioner apologized, compensated the woman, and stopped performing ear coning [4].

Alaska Fire Marshall Gary L. Powell has reported two instances of significant fires associated with ear candling., one of which led to the user's death. On January 27, 2005 a 59-year-old woman ignited her bedding when she dropped an ear candle that she was attempting to use the ear without any assistance. The candle ignited the bedding and quickly spread to curtains and other combustibles in the room. The woman did escaped but suffered an asthma attack and died in a hospital emergency room [5].

Answer 2

I agree with "your an idiot", even though he spelled "you're" wrong. Candling has worked for me since I was little. It's a lot more popular in Canada, where I have never before heard stories of people hurting themselves. And if they do, they're just stupid. It's a very easy procedure. I have done it by myself several times. If you do decide to try it, you should try to get someone to help hold the candle first, because I think your sense of balance is affected during, and it's hard to tell if the candle is still vertical or not! My ears feel so much better, less stuffy afterwards. It's downright therapeutic.

Answer 3

If you are asking what is ear candling, the answer is that it is an old world "treatment" done by older people who learned it from their grandmothers and others who used to do it for extra money.
Ear candling consists of small, hand-wrapped pieces of linen, molded into skinny tube shapes that were previously "soaked" in very light liquid wax. They are inserted into the ears of clients and "lit", and as the "candling" warms up the ears, it releases the build up of the wax inside the clients ears. The ear wax then drips out and most clients claim it helps clean out their ears and they are able to hear better than they ever have. But not all people are convinced ear candling is safe or necessary to rid the wax build-up in ears. Others swear by it. To be safe, check this old wives' tale out with your doctor.

Answer 4

I have used the candling procedure. It worked very well, although I saw the ear wax that was removed, I couldn't hear any better or worse. As for the story about burning your hair or the really good one about setting bedding on fire, these are the stupid people of the world. I think the real question is, is it medically
safe. The Doctors want you to think that you shouldn't use the procedure because you cut them out of the picture financially, of course they are going to find any reason in the world to tell you not to use it..........It worked for me.............

Answer 5

Ear candling is removal of excess ear wax. It is done with a material type funnel you can get from Health food stores. You light the top (large end) of the "funnel" and put the small end which smoke exits from into your ear and it causes a suction. It does work. I've done it several times.

Answer 6

i tried it only once. it helped with the wax but for some reason it made my house all smoky. my husband was worried i was going to catch my hair on fire. Alternatively, a lot of chiropractors will do it for you.

Answer 7

You should try it. It really gets the gunk out of your ears.

Answer 8

It is for the people who have a hearing problem

Answer 9

what is that?