There are some habits we pick up as children and never really question.
Cleaning our ears with cotton buds is one of them.
For many people, it’s part of the morning routine. Brush your teeth, wash your face, clean your ears. Job done. It feels satisfying too. You look at the cotton bud afterwards and think, “That’s better.”
Except it usually isn’t.
A few weeks ago, a gentleman came into the pharmacy looking worried. He said one ear had suddenly “gone deaf”. There was no pain, no infection, just a strange blocked feeling as though someone had stuffed cotton wool inside his ear.
“I’ve been cleaning them every day,” he proudly told me.
That explained it.
What he didn’t realise was that every time he used a cotton bud, he wasn’t removing the wax. He was slowly pushing it further down until it formed a solid plug right against the eardrum.
He certainly isn’t the only one.
Earwax has a terrible reputation. We think of it as something dirty that needs removing. In reality, it’s one of the cleverest things our body produces.
It traps dust before it reaches the delicate parts of the ear. It catches insects—thankfully not something most of us encounter very often—and it even contains substances that help fight bacteria and fungi.
Without earwax, our ears would actually be more vulnerable to infection.
Most of the time, your ears clean themselves.
Every time you talk, chew, laugh or yawn, tiny movements of your jaw slowly work old wax towards the entrance of the ear where it dries up and falls out naturally. It’s a beautifully designed system that has been working perfectly long before cotton buds were invented.
The trouble starts when we interfere.
A cotton bud might remove the tiny bit of wax you can see, but much of it gets pushed deeper inside. Imagine using a plunger to push leaves further down a drain instead of pulling them out. Eventually something has to give.
That’s why pharmacists and doctors see so many people with blocked ears after weeks or months of enthusiastic cleaning.
Some people are more prone than others. Hearing aid users, people who wear earphones for hours each day, and those with naturally narrow ear canals often produce troublesome build-ups.
The symptoms can be surprisingly dramatic.
Your hearing may suddenly become muffled. Voices sound distant. Some people notice ringing in the ear, while others feel dizzy or as though their ear is permanently full of water.
The good news is that most cases are easily treated.
Ear drops containing olive oil or other wax-softening ingredients can help loosen hardened wax over several days. If that isn’t enough, your GP surgery or a specialist clinic may recommend ear irrigation or microsuction.
Microsuction has become increasingly popular because it uses gentle suction under direct vision to remove wax without flushing water into the ear.
What you should never do is poke around with hairpins, keys, matchsticks or anything else that was never designed for ears. Pharmacists have heard some astonishing stories over the years, and they rarely end well.
And while we’re talking about ears, here’s another myth worth clearing up.
If a child puts a bead into their ear, many parents immediately reach for tweezers. Unless the object is very easy to remove, it’s usually better to leave it alone. One wrong move can push it further in or damage the eardrum.
Sometimes the best first aid is knowing when not to fiddle.
Our bodies are remarkable. They spend every hour of every day quietly looking after us without asking for much in return.
Sometimes the kindest thing we can do is simply let them get on with the job.
So tomorrow morning, when you’re tempted to reach for that cotton bud, pause for a second.
Your ears have been cleaning themselves all your life. They probably don’t need your help nearly as much as you think.
Until next time, take care of yourself—and remember, just because something feels clean doesn’t always mean it’s doing you any good.
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