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Dr Cliff dubious advice BEST Way to Clean Earwax From Your Ears | How to Use Qtips Correctly

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I just had a look at this guys youtube channel, and found this.
It undoes all the advice to not use cotton buds in your ears and instead he should not encourage this but should reccomend a visit on a regular basis to an ear health person to check your ear health and micro suction your ears.

For a guy that seems to have a cult following, this “advice” is so wrong on so many levels imho.

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I watched that video. He recommended using cotton swabs to clean the pinna area of your ear, not the ear canal which is where possible damage can be done.

After massive earwax build up, and two ear infections that burst an eardrum, I use cotton swabs to clean my ears. One infection in '82 and another in '93, and I decided I did not want another one. Been using cotton swabs for nearly 30 years with no wax buildup and no ear infections. Yes, I use them all the way up the ear canel, but do not push them but rather swirl them. I am NOT recommending this to anyone else, but it has saved me much pain and potentially greater hearing loss. There is a “right” way to do it, and I was blessed to find it.

Again, I DO NOT recommend this for anyone, I am simplly telling my personal experence. The way most use them is wrong and will do more harm than good.

I go to an Ear Clinic where they examine my ears with a microscope the microsuction them for the equivalent of US＄35 takes about 35 minutes. I do it every 4mths or so, best thing I ever did.

Glad that works for you but, in my case, four months seems like a long time. If I waited four months to clean my ears they would need a Shop Vac, not a microsuction.
I also use the “Twist and Twirl” method for the outter 1/3 to 1/2 of both canals when I get out of the shower, besides ear wax, this removes most of the water in my ears. Then once a month or so I irrigate them with hydrogen peroxide . Be doing this since I was told to do it that way by my “old family doctor” about 40 years ago. Never damaged an ear and, just recently, two audiologists and an have commented “Clean ears” (or something similar) during exams.
I used to have an employee who “candled” her ears, claimed it worked great, I tried it once but never really warmed up to the idea of a flaming torch stuck in my ear.

I’ve been cleaning my ears, including canals, with Q-Tips for over 60 years and never had anything that even resembles a problem. My mother showed me how to do it when I was, like, 8 years old. As we know, mothers are always right. Physicians and audiologists are often right. :wink:

What is the evidence in support of the recommendation, anyway? How many people have actually hurt themselves using a Q-tip? Or is this yet another case of society perpetuating a belief that is unsupported by evidence?

I’ve been using Q Tips for 20 years as that’s what my surgeon recommended after my two surgeries. He did show me how to use them tho. Never had any issue and I’ve escaped more surgeries.

I doubt there have been many real “injuries” but I’m guessing there have been a lot of cases of impacted ear wax exacerbated by Q-tips.

Two more cents worth. I too have used Q-tips for over 60 years to clean my ears. I also wet the
q-time with Isopropyl alcohol. Family doctor told me to put drops of alcohol in each ear after water skiing in fresh water rivers to keep from getting an ear infection while treating an ear infection I had after skiing. I have never had another ear infection and it does great job cleaning the wax out of my canal and also the area of the ear that is outside the canal. I’m am no recommending this to anyone. It is just the facts.

In reply to @MDB

I agree with you, the only issue I can see is the Q tip would compress any wax tight near the ear drum. Making it more difficult to actually hear…

I’ve used Q tips for years but I only clean the side walls of my Aural canal. Hoping to help prevent wax from getting into my molds.

@Torbill said:

What is the evidence in support of the recommendation, anyway? How many people have actually hurt themselves using a Q-tip?

Working clinically for only half a dozen years, I have extracted one and a half q-tip heads from ear canals, only one of which was infected (I have also extracted infected cotton balls, hearing aid batteries, hearing aid domes, bits of ear plugs, tips of ear buds, , drops of welding metal, but no bugs yet). I have only met two patients who suffered a trauma from a q-tip (i.e. managed to knock it through the ear drum). So, not that many considering how many patients I’ve seen, but also kind of a lot if every other hearing health professional has seen the same.

I can’t even count the number of patients who have impacted wax with nice little q-tip prints in it, so that’s common. I also see a reasonable number of aggressive q-tip users with dry, itchy ears.

(PSA: Ear candling is fake. Don’t do that.)

In reply to @BeachBum

I also us alcohol on the cotton swab to help remove wax and excess moisture. I go to my doctor once a year for a physical, and she comments on my clean and healthy ears. And my fitter at Costco at my first exam also commented how clean the ear canal was. I do a quick clean of the ear everyday, as I have major ear wax and even 3 days will give little chunks of wax.

I am glad there are many out there that have found the correct way to use cotton swabs, and just don’t automaticly accept the “experts”. Many times they give warnings about things because of the people that do things incorrecty and cause problems. Thats fine, but it does not mean there is not a correct way than would benefit many.

In reply to @Neville

No bugs… what?! Not even a single earwig?? :wink:

You’re providing evidence that Q-tips are causing serious damage in some cases. I didn’t know that and I accept it.

From this point things get complicated, in my view. We have to think about things like the rate at which it happens, who it’s happening with, what the alternatives are, etc. And there isn’t good data, no doubt, for making a good decision.

So, anecdotally, at one end of the spectrum we have people like me. I would estimate that I have cleaned my ears with Q-tips well over 6,000 times in 60 years, with not a single incident and no dry ears. At the other end we have cases where people create a very serious problem for themselves.

What society has done is to take the recommendation to the lowest common denominator: If it’s possible to create harm, avoid doing it. “Never stick anything but your elbow in your ear” is the guidance that we got, back then.

What I always wonder is, who are the people who are behind the statisticcs? Here is a weird and true story that happened to my high school grandson, this summer. On his very first day of his lifeguard job, in his very first station assignment (diving board), in his first few minutes at his first station assignment, a guy in his 20s stepped onto the diving board, declared “I can’t swim!”, and jumped. And he was right! My grandson had to fish him out because he was beginning to drown.

So, who are the people behind the perforated ear drums? Are they normal people who are performing a procedure that is inherently too risky? Or are they diving board jumpers, who are candidates for the Darwin Award? All I know is that I have never had a problem with dry ears or perforated ear drums or anything else, and I have avoided the problems associated with excessive earwax. And my wife does it, and my kids do it, with no problems. Should the standard be set to people like my family and me? Or to the two people you have examined who have perforated ear drums? Beats me. All I know is that, in my case, my dear mother gave me advice that has served me well, lol.

In reply to @Fig

@Fig said:

I am glad there are many out there that have found the correct way to use cotton swabs, and just don’t automaticly accept the “experts”. Many times they give warnings about things because of the people that do things incorrecty and cause problems. Thats fine, but it does not mean there is not a correct way than would benefit many.

@Fig: Thank you! Well said. I’m 72 and have used Q-tips (correctly, I believe) all my life. I get similar comments on my ear hygiene from my audiologist, and have experienced zero swab-related problems.

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