I’d like to talk today about a topic that is near and dear to my heart and that is earwax (medical name = cerumen). It’s a very exciting topic I know!
Specifically, I’d like to talk about two very common misconceptions that I hear a lot from my patients about earwax.
So, the first misconception is that earwax means that your ears are dirty. This is actually not true at all! Earwax is a substance that your body actually makes naturally and there’s two main components to it. The first of those is the old layers of skin that have fallen off from the inside of the ear and the second component is an oily substance that’s produced by sebaceous glands in the other 1/3 of the ear canal. All of that mixes together to form your earwax.
The wax has a few different functions. It protects your ear from loud noise and it also protects against foreign bodies (like rocks or bugs) getting into your ear. Ear wax also has some properties that help to block infections from either bacteria or a fungus so it does have several useful functions.
The problem is that sometimes there can be too much wax or the wax can get pushed deep into the ear canal where it’s stuck. Then it can start causing issues and problems.
The second major misconception that I see about ear wax is that it needs to be cleaned out regularly. For most patients, that’s not true at all!
The body actually has a way to naturally clear ears out and for most people if you leave your ears alone the wax will naturally fall out without your help. Of course, for some people that’s not true. Certain people produce really hard or very dense wax and other people just make so much wax that it clogs everything up. For that subset of patients, it is necessary to have regular cleanings at your doctor’s office.
The best thing you can do personally for your ear wax is to avoid sticking anything down in your ears especially q-tips! The problem with q-tips is they don’t really clean wax out very well. The q-tip will clean some out but it’ll end up pushing most of the wax farther into the ear. Then, it gets packed down on to the eardrum and that’s uncomfortable. It blocks hearing and it can cause infection or trauma to the eardrum. It’s also more difficult for me to clean when that’s happened so the best thing to do I think is just to leave your ears alone and let them take care of themselves.
If you are someone who builds up a lot of wax there are ways to soften the wax and flush it out with warm water and that’s pretty safe to do at home. There are kits you can buy at the drugstore like Debrox that are good ways to do that at home. So anyway, that’s your daily wax update from Dr. Seth Evans! If you have problems with ear wax or any other ear nose and throat issues feel free to come and see me anytime. Call us at 512-550-0321 for an appointment in Kyle, San Marcos, or Lockhart.