Hear, Hear: The real dangers of using Q-tips
updated the Monday, September 5, 2016Is it really worth potential hearing loss?
If a Q-tip has been part of your usual health and cleanliness regimen, then using the cotton swab to clean out the wax from your ear canal can be the most satisfying thing ever. However, this cleansing ritual is actually dangerous and there are many medical experts around who advise against it. While you might actually think that you are clearing the ‘unwanted dirt’ out from your ears, you are quite possibly pushing the wax further into the canal, potentially affecting your hearing in the long-run as the wax gets pushed up against the eardrums. Below are a few reasons as to how using Q-tips to clean your ears can pose a danger.
Wax – the protector
Wax, as we know it, has always been around in our ears to keep it safe from insects and foreign objects from entering it. Our bodies create wax for a reason. The reason is similar as to why our nostrils have tiny hair follicles – to keep unwanted bacteria away. Also, a canal that is coated with earwax helps to repel water and prevent ear infections. Continuously prodding at it with a Q-tip is preventing your ears from doing its job. If you really feel like your ears need a good cleaning, leave the work to medical experts.
Take care of your ear drums
Ear drums are very delicate. This is why constantly prodding it with a Q-tip would eventually injure or puncture your ear drum. Housing the tiniest bones that are located right below the ear drum, pressing on those would send out vibrational waves into the inner ear. Tapping on it could also send shockwaves into the inner ear drum and cause hearing and balance problems. This could also lead to your earwax being impacted and when that occurs, you will notice signs of dizziness, ringing noises, and even pain.
You might be using it wrong
While doctors might agree that using Q-tips may not necessarily be evil, most people use them incorrectly. Medical expert William Brennan has explained the difference between the proper and improper use of a Q-tip – “There is a proper way to use Q-Tips and there is an improper way. If you’re putting them in your ears, you’re using them the improper way. Even Unilever, the company that makes the cotton swabs, warns that, when using them to clean the ears, you should ‘stroke gently around the outer ear without entering the ear canal'”.
Now that you know, we hope you quit the habit of sticking a Q-tip in your ear as and when you feel like your ear needs a cleansing!
Sonia Lourdes
