Why you shouldn't use cotton swabs to clean your ears

Jan 04, 2017 4 Replies

Why you shouldn't use cotton swabs to clean your ears

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"Here's why not: Cotton swabs, hair pins, house keys and toothpicks -- the many smaller-than-our-elbow-objects we love to put in our ears -- can cause cuts in our ear canals, perforate our eardrums and dislocate our hearing bones. And any of these things could lead to hearing loss, dizziness, ringing or other symptoms of ear injury."



Can it really be that bad?


That only occurs of you use a cue stick (for billiards) rather than a cue tip. (cotton swab). If you put that cue stick in your left ear, and it comes out the right ear, (or vice versa), you *might* have ear damage! Go ahead, give it a try!!!

No. I use a small screwdriver. Nice for scratching.

I think he has. Apparently there is nothing between his ears to prevent the cue stick from emerging out the other side.

Yep.

I stopped using cotton swabs cuz they would push some! of my earwax back up my ear canal. Not a lot, but enough that, over time, I eventually had a an earwax blockage in my ear. Painful to remove.

I figure if I can't remove excess earwax with my finger, it'll fall out by itself. I do use the "cuticle" blade on my Victorinox Swiss Army knife, but only rarely and carefully. Easy to scratch the ear.

nb

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