Otolaryngologist from Washington Dennis Fitzgerald said that patients often complain of health problems after cleaning their ears with cotton swabs. According to the physician, this does not surprise him, since they are not intended for such purposes.
“People say they only use them (Q-tips - Profile) for makeup, but we know what else they use them for. They clean their ears with them,”Fitzgerald said.
He noted that the harm of cotton swabs to the ears has been proven. Instead of removing excess sulfur, they, on the contrary, push it even deeper. If a person is not careful during this procedure, then he can damage the eardrum. Among other consequences, the doctor named complete deafness, paralysis of the facial nerve, dizziness and nausea, reports Express.
There is a safe way to clean your ears, according to your otolaryngologist. So, it is necessary to drip three drops of olive oil into them at night with a pipette and massage the cartilage on the outside of the ear. By morning, the sulfur will soften. It should be washed in the shower, using a mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide in a 1: 1 ratio.
Fitzgerald advised to do a similar procedure up to three times a month. He noted that brushing your ears too often is also harmful, as sulfur protects the hearing organs from bacteria. Excessive cleaning can lead to ear infections and inflammation.
Earlier, "Profile" reported that the popular myth of ear cleanliness was debunked by the Russian otolaryngologist Ivan Leskov. He also spoke out against the use of cotton swabs.