

“A candle over your ear cannot magically clean out your head.” Ear candling fans believe that the heat from the candle creates a suction that pulls out all the gunk from your ear canal. Proponents of ear candling claim that it pulls wax and “debris” from your ear, by placing a lit, hollow, cone-shaped candle into the ear canal. Taylor, AuD, F-AAA, audiologist and owner of Taylor Listening Center in Baltimore, says that at-home ear irrigation is a relatively safe option for people to try at home if they wish.īut, she cautions, “water should be body-temperature, because if it is too hot or too cold it can cause nystagmus (involuntary eye movement) and dizziness.”Īccording to the FDA, ear candles (shown at the top of the page) are “hollow cones that are about 10 inches long and made from a fabric tube soaked in beeswax, paraffin, or a mixture of the two.” The agency also says that ear candles are being marketed as treatments for a variety of conditions, including, “earwax buildup, sinus infections, hearing loss, headaches, colds, flu, and sore throats.” One study has shown that bulb irrigation kits are effective for at-home ear removal for some adults but warns that these results cannot be extrapolated to young children.Įmily J. The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation advises against irrigation for people who have had ear surgery or a hole in their eardrum. "You could wind up poking yourself," Adunka says. While this tool-which looks like a drill-may appear promising, it’s important to keep in mind that ear canals aren’t a straight cylinder. These can all injure your ear and may cause a cut in your ear canal, poke a hole in your ear drum, or hurt the hearing bones, leading to hearing loss, dizziness, ringing, and other symptoms of ear injury." The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation advises against putting anything in your ear: " put cotton swabs, hair pins, car keys, toothpicks, or other things in your ear.
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Turns out, the tiny spade in this kit can scratch the skin of the ear canal, causing infection or bleeding, according to Adunka. And of course, there are eardrops (sold under brand names like Debrox and Murine) that are used to soften earwax, making subsequent removal easier. There’s ear candling. There’s a device with a tiny loop on the end-kind of like lasso for your earwax. There’s something that looks like a drill that’s claimed to gently remove earwax by rotating it out. Or you could try to flush your ear canal out with a syringe instead.

There are irrigation kits that are purported to flush the earwax out. There’s the Axel Glade Spade-a tiny spade equipped with a camera that allows users to watch via an app on their phone as they scoop the wax from the ear canal. Impacted earwax can affect hearing, and it’s even more pronounced in those who may be experiencing other forms of hearing loss.Īll of this adds up to a boom in earwax removal products-and the options seem endless. And over 50 percent of older adults may be affected. According to a report on hearing by the World Health Organization, some 10 percent of children and 5 percent of adults have impacted earwax. The content ranges from in-office extractions performed by ear, nose, and throat doctors to at-home videos of people using various tools to get the sticky stuff out.īut it’s more than just a fad. And if you find that you’re weirdly into it, you’re not alone.Įarwax removal content is soaring in popularity on TikTok the hashtag #earwax has racked up thousands of videos, collectively reaching 8.1 billion views (graphic material at that link).

Yes, it’s true: That goopy amber stuff on your For You page is coming out of someone’s ear canal. Ah, TikTok, home of makeup tutorials, lip-syncing tunes, cute animal content and-earwax removal videos?
