Did you know that cleaning your ears with a q-tip is bad for your hearing?

Alex

Alex

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I've used a pen cap to clean my ears before, I admit. :o

"There are a lot of people who are in the habit of cleaning their ears with cotton swabs or Q-tips. After all, it's perfectly harmless, right? And all of that excess earwax and dirt are pretty icky anyway."

Read more at http://hearex.co/2
 
Yep, but I still use a q-tip, carefully, sometimes.

I flush my ears out twice a week, when I wash my hair. I tend to get excess earwax that accumulates and reduces my already poor hearing.
 
I still use a q tip. It's just like smoking, yea it bad but people don't quit because of it.
 
I use q-tips all the time in my ears. But I'm very careful not to go too far. I need to dry out my ears after a shower and before putting my HAs in.
 
the doctor told me to use oil to clean ears out. Put the oil inside ear leave it for a few minutes and then flush with warm water.
 
I've known a couple people who have punctured their ear drum with a Q tip, I use them periodically to clean the outer portion of my ear and never go past the first bend in the ear canal. Cleaning your ears to frequently does more harm than good because your ear canal needs wax and if you take it all away your body goes into overdrive and makes more and more ear wax because it does serve a purpose such as: lubricating the canal, helps clean stuff out of the ear and helps fight off bacteria and fungi that can cause problems. At one time my ears made a lot of wax and my ENT after cleaning them out told me to only clean them four or five times a year using Hydrogen Peroxide and flushing them with a bulb syringe.
 
I love Q-tips. My hearing is already long gone. So, I don't worry. And I know when to not go too deep. When you get that itch in your ear from a wet, sweaty earmold...a Q-tip feels oh, so, good...like sex ...almost!!
 
I've never had sex like a q-tip so I wouldn't know. Mine is always better.
 
Well with me and I'm sure others... my ears produce wax but it has no place to go because the earmold is blocking the only exit... so it sits and accumulates (ew)... so... yep use Q-tips after showers and sometimes after a long hot day sweating.
 
Call me nuts, I use diluted alcohol on a q-tip then a shower rinse for a quick refresher. Only this is done like twice a year, no probs.
 
Yes, I do. I clean my ears after shower as long as I don't poke eardrums. I recall Shel90 mentioned a story somewhere in Alldeaf that her friend hurt a eardrum with Q-tip while fixing her hair with a hot curl iron or blow dryer at the same time. *shudders*
 
I think its fine to use it after a shower/taking HA out since its already so hot and stuffy. I think the wax would have melted to a certain point, making it easier to clean. It gets itchy so cleaning it feels addicting when the itch stops.

When i was young i didnt know better. Poked my eardrums a few times on mistake, howled in pain, moved on with life..
 
I have really big ears and not much in the way of brains so q-tips are kind of light duty. A worn out toothbrush and the garden hose work pretty good. Winter in the far north I have found the garden hose is too ... well I don't know... it's kind of like eating really cold ice cream too fast.
 
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