Friday Favorites Any Benefits to Ear Candling What’s the Best Way to Remove Ear Wax

Duration: 7:56 1028 transcript words EN summary

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Ear candling is often marketed as an affordable solution for removing earwax, yet scientific investigation has thoroughly debunked its efficacy and safety. These devices consist of hollow tubes made from fabric impregnated with wax; when lit at one end, proponents claim a vacuum effect draws debris out through the other. However, research using mass spectrometry found no trace of actual earwax in the residue left inside the candle stubs after use, proving that the material is simply burned paraffin or beeswax smoke rather than extracted wax. Furthermore, tympanometric measurements showed no negative pressure generated by the process, and temperature readings indicated that the air at the ear canal entrance never exceeded 72 degrees Fahrenheit, far below body heat. Consequently, any melting of wax claimed to occur is scientifically implausible under these conditions. Despite the lack of evidence supporting its mechanism, some advocates suggest that candling might soften or melt wax for later removal, but clinical studies contradict this entirely. Before-and-after photographs taken inside ear canals revealed not only a complete absence of removed wax but also instances where candle residue was deposited directly into the canal, leaving patients with worse blockage than before. The procedure carries significant risks beyond mere ineffectiveness, including documented cases of severe burns to the outer ear and hair, total obstruction by melted candle wax, infections, and even perforation of the eardrum. Researchers have concluded that ear candling offers no benefit in managing earwax and poses a serious threat of injury, serving as an example where ignorance overrides scientific fact. When it comes to effectively addressing excess earwax buildup, which is a common cause of reversible hearing loss, the most prudent approach is often doing nothing at all if symptoms are absent. The human ear is self-cleaning; the skin lining the canal grows outward like a conveyor belt, naturally pushing secreted wax and trapped dirt out over time. While this mechanism fails in some individuals due to age or other factors leading to impaction, unnecessary intervention can be harmful. Common practices such as using cotton-tipped swabs are particularly dangerous because they push wax deeper into the ear canal rather than removing it, potentially causing dryness, itching, pain known as Q-tip otalgia, abrasions, and even rare but fatal complications like brain abscesses if a piece of the swab breaks off. For those who do require treatment for impacted wax that causes hearing loss or irritation, safer alternatives exist with proven success rates. Simple irrigation using warm water at body temperature via a bulb syringe is effective in 70 to 90% of cases and can be attempted safely at home by following specific precautions, such as directing the stream against the canal walls rather than toward the eardrum. While commercial ear drops may soften wax slightly better over five days compared to doing nothing alone, they are not vastly superior to saline or plain water; their primary utility lies in preparing for irrigation if needed. If self-administered irrigation fails, clinicians can manually remove the obstruction under direct observation with specialized devices. It is crucial to avoid high-pressure oral water jets like Waterpiks entirely due to the risk of eardrum perforation and catastrophic injury, ensuring that earwax management remains a safe process rather than a hazardous one.

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[music] >> Ear candles, also known as ear cones, are promoted as a low-cost effective treatment for earwax. They're hollow tubes of fabric impregnated with paraffin or beeswax. One end is placed in the entrance to the ear canal, and the other end is lit. After 15 minutes or so, the flame is extinguished, and a brownish waxy substance can be seen within the remaining stub. This is claimed to be earwax drawn out by some sort of vacuum chimney effect, but the same residue, presumably from the burning wax smoke, appears if you burn it alone outside the ear. Researchers actually took the additional step of running used ear candle stubs through a mass spectrometer, and indeed, no evidence of earwax was found. Not surprisingly, perhaps, since tympanometric measurements showed no signs of negative chimney effect pressure at any point. Not to be dissuaded, proponents suggest that, well, no earwax may be drawn out that day, the candling process at least heats up and melts the earwax, which then comes out naturally over the next few days. But Health Canada measured the air temperature at the ear end of the burning candle, and the highest temperature reached was only 72° F, well below body temperature. Though the purported theories were found to be implausible and demonstrably wrong, the only way to really tell if it works is to examine the wax build-up in people before and after ear candling. Photographs inside the ear canal were taken before and after ear candling. Not only was no wax removed, but in some of the ear canals, candle wax was deposited. So, they ended up worse than they were before. Not to mention the recorded complications including ear burns, complete candle wax blockage of ear canals, >> [clears throat] >> ear drum perforation, infection, and setting people's hair on fire. Researchers concluded that ear candles have no benefit in the management of ear wax and may result in serious injury. Ear candles appear to be a triumph of ignorance over science. So, what is effective for getting rid of ear wax? I'll cover that next. >> [music] >> One of the most common reversible causes of hearing loss is ear wax buildup. Ear wax is normal and if it isn't causing symptoms should be left alone. It doesn't start interfering with hearing acuity until clogs off at least 80% of the ear canal. Ironically, hearing aids are risk factor for excessive ear wax as are anything else you put in your ear like ear plugs since that stimulates the ear wax glands. For further irony, so may cotton-tipped swabs that as many as 2/3 of people use to clean their ears. You may think you're making things better by swabbing out your ears, but you may actually be making them worse. Simply removing protective wax can leave your ear canals dry, itchy, and achy, or even lead to Q-tip otalgia, a term coined to refer to an ear pain syndrome caused by cotton tip swabs. You shouldn't need to clean your ear canals at all because the wax should make its way out on its own. That's right. Ears are self-cleaning. The lining of your ear canal grows outward from your eardrum, so secreted earwax and any dirt that's trapped is eventually conveyor belted out of the ear. However, the self-cleaning mechanism can fail in one in 20 younger adults and as many as one in three older adults and lead to excessive or impacted earwax accumulation, though they may not even know it. 70% of those surveyed who had both ears completely blocked with wax thought their hearing was good. But when their ears were clear, they were suddenly able to hear better. Clearing out impacted wax can also improve symptoms of ear irritation, pressure, and fullness. So, what's the best way to do it? Q-tips are a no-no. Pushing anything into the ear canal can end up making things worse by impacting wax even deeper into the ear or traumatizing the canal, resulting in abrasions, infections, or even, rarely, eardrum perforation. There's even a case report of a cotton swab causing a brain abscess and fatal meningitis, though the presence of wood splinters suggests the tip had broken off inside the ear. Cotton swab packaging already cautions users against ear canal insertion, but perhaps warning labels should be made even clearer, wrote one clinical medical officer. Do not go near the ear hole or avoid the ear altogether. What about those ear drops sold for wax removal? There are about a dozen different marketed formulations on the market, uh none of which appears to work any better than any other or even compared to saline, which is just salt water or plain tap water. But 5 days of treatment does clear earwax in about one in five cases compared to only one in 20 that clear up on their own within that time. At the very least those ear drops may be able to soften wax before bulb syringe irrigation. Irrigation, also called ear syringing, involves flushing out the wax with a low-pressure jet of warm body temperature water. It works up to 70 to 90% of the time. And if it doesn't, clinicians have fancy devices to manually remove the wax under direct observation. The irrigation can be tried at home, though. Researchers randomized use a bulb at home had about a 50% success rate in clearing their obstruction. And armed with this knowledge, were significantly less likely to subsequently require in-office irrigation. Significant complications only happen in approximately one in a thousand irrigations. You should not use an oral water jet. There are papers with names like catastrophic otologic injury from oral jet irrigation of the external auditory canal. Even at 1/3 power, Waterpiks were shown to be able to perforate the eardrums of fresh cadavers. Those who insist on violating this advice should in the very least use the lowest setting, use a tip with multiple orifices, and make sure the water stream is directed only against the walls of the ear canal, never straight back towards the eardrum, but really just don't do it.