Using Q-tips To Clean Your Ears #190.

It seems banal that something as basic as cleaning your ears with q-tips can have major health implications.

Recently a man was diagnosed with a life threatening skull infection. What was the culprit? Cotton fibers that had been liberated from there assumed solid q-tip. Just a minute dispense from a cotton swab. Those fibers than maintained lodging within this man’s ear, only to accumulate bacterium. In this case Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a dangerous disease-causing pathogen. Which eventually grew into an oozing cyst within this man’s skull impacting his brain and releasing a discharge through his ear canal.

Myriad Of Q-tip Related Damages

Punctured ear drums, trauma, tympanic membrane perforation, impacted earwax, infection. Just to name a few of the potential problems faced when using Q-tips.

Better Ways

Contrary to looks and aesthetics and a general overall gross factor. Ear wax is actually good. It lubricates and protects the ear canal and the ear is pretty efficient at cleaning itself. But if you absolutely feel it’s necessary to clean out earwax due to possibly obstructing your hearing. First visit a specialist. If that’s out of your price range, try a finger. They’re too big to dig deep and cause damage and can remove the surface wax. If that’s not enough you could use hydrogen peroxide or Olive oil or ear wax drops. Each will clean out the ear canal with a few drops and won’t go past the protective barriers.

All in all there are better more effective ways out there to clean the ears, that don’t have as much potential to cause damage. The man at the beginning of the story ended up recovering but not until having the cotton fiber bacteria growth medium removed from his ear and eight weeks of antibiotics.

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