Did you know your not supposed to clean out your ears?

Question

and if you did know can u tell me why?

I just learned it today in biology

Answer 1

yes....b/c you can accidentally damage your ear drum, possibly causing it to bleed.

Answer 2

I was told 10 years ago by an ear specialist not to to clean my ears because the wax has a protective quality. I can't tolerate waxed up ears though, so I clean them, but not as thoroughly as I would like.

Answer 3

Because your dog can do it for you! lol

O.K. so what is the biological reason? lol

You are not suppose to put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear so you don't compound the wax or break an ear drum. But it doesn't get you out of washing your ears with a wash cloth!

Answer 4

It is fine to wipe your ears with a cloth and wipe the opening, but you are not supposed to stick a Q-tip in your ear because it can push & pack the wax & stuff down into your ear canal.
I thought it was ok to use the right (Dr. recommended) stuff to pour into your ears and clean them out to loosen built up wax. It seems like at sometime we would have to do that because the wax can become so built up that it makes it difficult for us to hear.
My dad used something once to pour in his ears to loosen & clean the wax out and a huge clump came out of his ear.
I would call a Dr. before doing anything (if you ever plan to) to get the correct info.

Answer 5

The wax is generated to help protect your ears and your eardrums. I've been told that q-tips are damaging, actually. If you do need to clear away some wax buildup, you can take a paper towel or cloth with warm water and clear what you can get to with only your own finger - but don't go deeper.

...I'll stick to q-tips, though.

Answer 6

You're not supposed to use stuff like Q-Tips because it'll pack wax in and can rupture your eardrum, but there are ways to clean your ears without that.

Answer 7

I thought you shouldn't OVER clean, because having SOME earwax actually protects your ear and the eardrum from infections, and only people who have too much earwax are supposed to clean them. But you can take a q-tip to the outerparts of the lobe. Just not the inside...

Answer 8

i don't think it effects you really. i clean mine daily. sometimes more than once a day depending on how my ears feel. my hearing is perfectly fine, in fact i would say its great, and i cant stand the feeling of wax in my ears. the point of cleaning your ears is to get the wax out. i don't push it farther into my ear. keep cleaning your ears people. not cleaning them is just nasty!!!

Answer 9

maybe its to protect small things for getting in your ear and also to stop the cause of infection and to protect the inner ear.

The Ear Wax Manifesto

Ear wax (cerumen) is good for you! It's not in your ear to create problems, it's part of the normal physiology of the ear canal. Cerumen waterproofs the ear canal, and it contains chemicals which kill bacteria. The late Dr. Lloyd Storrs, a well-known otolaryngologist from Texas, used to collect ear wax from patients who had too much and dispense it as medication to patients who had too little! He claimed that it was an effective treatment for chronic infections of the ear canal.

Ear wax even cleans your ear canals for you. Normally, dust and dirt in the air collect in the wax, then the wax gradually falls out of the ear and takes the dust and dirt with it. You may have seen ear wax that looked dirty; it looks that way because it's doing its job.

Although cerumen has many beneficial qualities, some people do accumulate too much of a good thing. Why? Sometimes the ear canals are narrower than average, sometimes the ear canals are hairy enough to keep the wax from falling out the way it's supposed to. Sometimes there's no apparent reason-and even if you could find the reason, what would you do about it? Avid surfers and others with extensive cold water exposure can develop exostoses, bumps on the bone of the ear canal which prevent wax from falling out. In extreme cases, when the wax accumulates and blocks the ear very frequently, people have had surgery to remove exostoses. I've never seen a case that severe.

If you do have a problem with ear wax, what can you do about it? First, do nothing until the blockage comes back. A very few patients seem to develop blockage on a regular "schedule," but for all others there is no way to predict when there will again be enough wax to cause a problem. You'll probably know that the wax is building up when you finish your shower and water doesn't drain out of your ear. Then it's time to start working on the wax. Use drops for a few days to soften the wax-I suggest Debrox, although plain water may work just as well-and then rinse the wax out of your ear with body-temperature water from a bulb syringe. (Caution: don't use wax-softening drops or rinse your ear if you have a hole in your eardrum. Don't flush your ear if you have an area of thin, weakened eardrum. And the water pressure should be gentle; don't wedge the bulb syringe in your ear and squeeze hard.) Even if you can't remove the wax yourself, you can make it easier for me and more comfortable for yourself by softening the wax before you come to the office. Sometimes a little baby oil helps the wax to slide out.

Whatever you do, DON'T remove the wax unless it's blocking your ear and DON'T try to clean your ears with cotton swabs. At best, the swabs will only push wax further into your ear and make it more difficult to remove. At worst, they'll irritate your ear canal, and it is possible to seriously damage your ears with cotton swabs-I've seen it happen.

Wax is often more of a problem for hearing aid users. The hearing aid prevents the wax from falling out the way it's supposed to, and wax that wouldn't block the ear can be enough to block the output of the hearing aid. If you need a hearing aid, you'll have to take care of your ear wax as I've suggested above, only more frequently. When you start having trouble with the wax-most likely you won't be able to hear well with the hearing aid, or the hearing aid will feed back (whistle)-it's a good idea to let your hearing aid dealer check the ear and the hearing aid for you. If there's a problem with the hearing aid, or if the hearing aid needs cleaning, they can take care of that for you. If the problem is ear wax, they can tell you for sure.

Answer 10

yes, i knew this, learned it in elementary school! you are not supposed to stick anything in your ear as everyone else is saying, plus you do need the wax in your ear. i just clean around the outside of my eardrum when needed w/out putting the qtip actually in my ear.

Answer 11

Yes. Never stick anything down in or near the drum part you could damages it. Q Tips are for cleaning around the outter insides of the ears