Clean ears properly

Who has ears to hear?

may he listen briefly to the following story:

"Cotton buds," my ENT doctor said, dropping his voice into a meaningful whisper: "Cotton swabs are a great invention! I always use them to clean the keyboard of my PC, and when you dip them into spirit, you can do so well clean the limbs of a watch band? "he looked at me questioningly? "but for the ears?"


The visit to said doctor had led to an increased numbness in my right ear. Similar to a "water-in-the-ear" feeling after swimming. Unpleasant and annoying. Leaning your head and jumping. No change. First with your finger, then with a cotton swab in your ear? nothing helped. After two days, as if under water, I decided to visit the doctor I trusted. He reached for his otoscope and looked into my deaf ear. His diagnosis: a graft of hardened earwax deep in the ear canal. With the ear tweezers he could not catch him. So he washed my ear with lukewarm water. What fell into the silver kidney bowl with clearly audible clinking surprised me. An approximately cherry-green lump. Dark brown and a little disgusting. But I could hear again! Then my doctor gave me a little crash course on ear care. I would like to reproduce my knowledge from this in the following.

Ears are self-cleaning!

Our ears, or to be more precise: Our ear canals usually require no special cleaning. Finest cilia in the inside of the ear provide with their movement for the removal of all in the ear unwanted foreign body. Dirt and dust particles, dead skin cells and excess earwax? everything is automatically transported away in the direction of the auricle (ie towards the exit). There, this "overburden" can be removed with a damp washcloth or a cotton pad. That is already the complete ear care. Note: Always clean only up to the ear canal, never further.

Earwax is not a mess!

The sticky secretions produced by the auditory glands fulfill important functions. First, it lubricates the skin of the ear canal. On the other hand, it supports the formation of an acid mantle in the ear interior. This prevents the penetration of pathogens. Some people suffer from overproduction of earwax. This can lead to obstruction of the ear canal and significant hearing loss. In addition, it creates an unpleasant foreign body sensation. In this case, a regular cleaning should be done by a doctor. This leads directly to the next point:


Cotton swabs yes? but NOT for the ears!

That sharp and hard objects, such as pencils or straightened paper clips, have nothing to look in the ear, should be clear to everyone. Injuries of sensitive skin in the ear canal, or at worst a perforation of the eardrum can be the result. Cotton swabs, on the other hand, are often thought to have been specially developed for ear cleansing. THAT'S NOT TRUE! As noted above (by my ENT specialist), they are extremely handy for cleaning all sorts of small parts. But their function is already exhausted. In the ear they have lost nothing. Although here the risk of injury is mitigated by the cotton, but when trying to remove earwax, this is only pushed deeper into the ear canal to the eardrum. Once there, it dries out and forms a hard graft that can only be removed by the doctor.

On the subject of cotton swabs still a true and tragic story: In the English lessons of Mrs. Gutberlet it was advantageous to sit in the left half of the room. This was especially true at retreats. Why? Ms. Gutberlet was deaf in the right ear? she could not hear what was whispered and whispered in the left half of the room. This one-sided deafness was the result of an accident with a cotton swab. At the morning toilet, Ms. Gutberlet was busy cleaning her ears when the phone rang. Whether it was due to the early hour or to their general absent-mindedness is unknown. In any case, she forgot to pull the cotton swab from her right ear before going to the phone. With her own momentum, she picked up the phone and was about to say hello as the phone slammed on the end of the cotton swab. The rest is history?

Could other ear experts like Dumbo or the great Mr. Genscher contribute more to the subject? Or you yourself? One does not know, one still whispers. All that remains is to say: Keep your ears stiff and remember? Ears cleanse themselves. On the other hand, you are responsible for the unwashed area behind the ears!

What’s the Best Way to Clean Your Ears? | March 2024