Why You Should Never Put Cotton Buds In Your Ears

 Contibuted post

Image Link (CC0 License)

Like the vast majority of the population, you have a load of cotton buds in your bathroom cabinet. Everyone seems to have them, and we all use them for the same thing; cleaning our ears. It seems like these small little buds were made for the job, right? Why else would they be so thin and on the end of a stick?! Plus, when your ears feel a bit blocked or dirty, you always end up getting rid of a lot of wax when using the cotton buds. 

You can already tell there's a 'however' coming up, and boy is it a big one! However, putting cotton buds in your ears is genuinely one of the worst things you can do. While it may seem like the two go hand in hand, it is actively discouraged that you insert them in your ears - and here's why...

Your ears clean themselves

Believe it or not, but your ears are self-cleaning vessels. It might not feel like it, but they genuinely are equipped to clean themselves all the time. Thus, you have no need to actually use cotton buds to clean your ears. Most of the time, ear cleaning happens naturally, and you can use a tissue to wipe away any excess wax from the entrance of your ears. If you use a cotton bud, you're basically just poking your ear for the sake of it - and this can be a big problem. 

You push wax deeper into your ears

Pushing a cotton bud into your ears doesn't actually clean them anyway. It seems like you're getting rid of the wax, but you're actually just pushing it further back into the canal. That's why it seems like there's less and less on the cotton bud - it's getting further and further away for you to touch! This is a problem for a couple of reasons, the main one being that you can cause blockages in your ears. By pushing wax further back, it goes against the ear's natural cleaning cycle. So, there's more chance it will solidify and cause a blockage that may lead to an infection. 

You can rupture your eardrum

Finally, the biggest reason to never use cotton buds in your ears is that you can rupture your eardrum. The ear is a tiny space filled with all sorts of important features. If the cotton bud goes too deep into your ear, it can poke the eardrum - or push wax against the eardrum. When this happens, you run the risk of rupturing your eardrum, which is one of the most stressful experiences ever. Expect to also suffer from some hearing loss as the eardrum repairs, though your actual hearing may never return to its normal state. 

Put simply, there are too many risks involved when using cotton buds in your ears. Yes, you want to keep yourself clean, but the ears do that themselves! Here's a good rule that most medical experts live by; don't put anything in your ear that's smaller than your elbow.