The American Academy of Otolaryngology ‘ Head and Neck Surgery Foundation published an
updated set of guidelines on managing ear gunk in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. The
recommendations don’t contain many surprises, but they will definitely give you another reason to
worry screw around inside your ears too much and you might give yourself earwax impaction,
which is basically a stuffy nose for your ear.
Earwax, also known as cerumen, is essentially the snot that serves to grease up the inside of your
ears and trap any invading dirt particles. Your body normally deals with earwax buildups just fine,
by circulating old wax out of the ear where it crusts up on its own, and by growing more skin
cells, according to the report. If that process breaks down, though, earwax might build up in your
ears, making it difficult to hear or resulting in a feeling of stuffiness. Around 10 per cent of
children and five per cent of adults suffer from this problem, with numbers higher in older or
developmentally-delayed folks. New data on cerumen impaction motivated the release of new
recommendations for how to deal with it.
The report can be summarised as follows:
1) Don’t clean your ears too much.
2) Don’t put small things like cotton buds into your ear. Sorry, I know, but cotton buds can
push earwax further inside your head, making impaction worse or irritating the inside of
your ear. Call a doctor if you have symptoms like ear pain, hearing loss or stuffy-headedness that
might not be from earwax.
3)If you’re suffering from earwax buildup, ask your doctor about safe ways to treat it.
And don’t even try ear candling, an alternative medicine procedure that involves lighting a candle
over your ear to try and draw the wax out. It doesn’t make any sense and you’ll probably just get
candle wax in your ears.
Your biggest takeaway should be that the earwax belongs inside your ears, and if you do end up
with earwax impaction, call your doctor who can remove the wax manually.

 

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