Do I need to clean my ears?
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Q. I make a lot of ear wax. Should I try to wash my ears out to keep the canals clean? Or do I need to clean them at all?
A. If the wax in your ear doesn’t cause any trouble, you don’t have to do anything about it. Earwax is made in the ear canal and serves four primary purposes:
- It moistens the skin to prevent dryness and itching.
- It helps protect the canal and eardrum from damage.
- It discourages bacteria from multiplying, so it helps prevent infections.
- It keeps the ear clean. The oily substance made by the cells lining the ear canal mixes with the dead skin and debris inside, and the mixture then slowly moves out of the ear.
The consistency of earwax ranges from liquid to rock-hard. The higher the proportion of dead skin cells and hair, and the longer the mixture has been in the canal, the harder the wax. The ear should remove wax naturally. There are instances where it might get blocked, such as these:
- Your ear canal is especially narrow or curvy.
- You have a skin condition, such as eczema, that affects the canal.
- You have excessive hair growth in the canal.
- You have been cleaning your ears with a Q-tip, pushing the wax farther back into the ear canal, where it builds up and hardens.
- You wear a hearing aid or earplugs.
You only need to remove earwax if it causes problems with hearing, ringing in the ears, or an earache. To unblock the wax, you can use an over-the-counter ear-cleaning treatment to flush the wax. Do not try this if you have a history of eardrum perforation or have had ear surgery. If you aren’t successful in clearing the earwax, see your doctor.
Never dig out earwax with a Q-tip, paper clip, or hairpin, which besides pushing earwax into the canal, raises the risk of injuring your eardrum. Another procedure to avoid is ear candling, which involves placing the other end of a lighted hollow candlestick into the ear canal. It doesn’t work, and it could cause serious harm.
Preventing earwax blockage is difficult. People with frequent blockages may use mineral oil drops or another earwax softener once a week to help keep the wax from hardening and building up. But earwax is there for a purpose. It doesn’t usually need to be removed. Your best bet is to clean your outer ear with a washcloth and leave wax removal to your ear’s self-cleaning mechanism.
Image: © ediebloom/Getty Images
About the Author
Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
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