People usually think that earwax is an indication of poor hygiene when in fact, it serves a very important purpose.
Much like the skin on the rest of your face, the skin inside your ear is very sensitive. In order to protect this part of our body, our ear canals produce ear wax. With this thin layer of protection, the ear is able to protect itself from any small particles that can lodge inside your ear canal.
“There are some instances, however, when your ear canals store too much ear wax. It can be because your ear canals are too narrow, or you have a skin condition around your ear, or because you have swimmer’s ear. ”
Normally your ears naturally clean themselves. Whenever you move your jaw (while eating or talking) your earwax slowly goes out of the ear canal. If this is not enough to naturally take out your earwax, here are a few tips to prevent it from building up.
Don’t put ANYTHING inside your ear
Especially cotton buds. You can use cotton buds to clean your OUTER ear, but it should never go anywhere near your ear canal.
Even the Best ENT Doctors in Cebu are against the use of this item. Foreign objects, such as cotton buds, push wax deeper into the ear and can cause serious damage to the lining of your ear canal or eardrum. It also puts you at risk of damaging the delicate eardrum, causing a painful rupture
You should also avoid using ear candles. Not only are they proven to be useless in ear cleaning, but they also put you at the risk of burning your skin and adding more blockage to your ear drums.
Bathe Regularly
When you bathe, a bit of water gets inside your ears and liquifies your ear wax. This the safest and most natural way for you to slowly remove ear wax build up.
This does not take all of your ear wax out, which is ideal since you want to avoid stripping your ears off of its natural protection.
Get your ears cleaned with a doctor
ENT Doctors in Cebu are well equipped with various materials to help remove ear wax. This is often achieved with ear irrigation.
Ear irrigation is a treatment in which warm, clean water is inserted inside the ear to flush out excess earwax, or cerumen, and foreign materials.
So if you experience:
- Muted or muffled hearing
- Discharge from your ear or wax on your pillow
- Pain or a feeling of fullness in the ear
- Itchiness in the ear
Then you should definitely get your ears professionally cleaned by an ENT doctor.
Don’t overclean
Your ear wax helps protect your ears from foreign materials. Without it, your ears will only end up dry and itchy. Inevitably, this may result in swimmers’ ears.
When you get your ears cleaned too frequently, bacteria is going to latch into your dry ear canals. This bacteria can multiply and cause an ear infection.
Doctors recommend that you have your ears professionally cleaned every 2 to 4 weeks.
You can get your ears cleaned with the Best ENT Doctors in Cebu. You can visit them at Century Plaza Complex, Juana Osmeña St, Cebu City or at CPG Arcade, North Road, Consolacion.
For more details, you can call us at 0932 788 1168 or message us on Facebook.
Sources: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/3-reasons-to-leave-earwax-alone-2017051711718
