Life style factors that may lead to wax accumulation.
In this blog we will focus on the lifestyle factors leading to wax accumulation and leave the wax tasting discussion for another day.
Use of cotton buds or cotton swabs, Consistent and long duration use of ear inserts (more below)- Our patients often ask us whether one should limit the use of cotton buds or use them at all in the first place. In most cases patients know the answer but it seems as though they want to hear from you- THE PROFESSIONALS. Firstly, the good old phrase “never put anything smaller than your elbow into your ear” is a good advice for us all.
By using an ear bud to clean wax in your ears, you are risking causing trauma to the delicate lining of the ear canal, as well as the ear drum itself. Ear canal skin is not as robust as the skin in the rest of our body, and is prone to getting inflamed or exposed to infections due to the skin breakage caused by aggressive use of external tools. In our previous blog we provided a reference to a detailed article on ear canal skin makeup. One can also easily push back the wax down the ear canal, and in some cases against the ear drum without your knowledge, therefore causing more harm than doing any good at all. An experienced clinician, will inform you if that is the case. The Ear drum reacts to wax being pushed against it, thus looking red and inflamed in some extreme cases, once the wax is removed. One must remember that our ears are bestowed with their very own self-cleaning mechanism. Usually, the ears are working hard to clean themselves, by slowly moving earwax and debris out of the ear canal opening. Most of the time, we are unaware of this cleaning process, so whilst we are sleeping, our ears are busy trying to push out the wax. We usually suggest not to put your fingers or other objects like pens and keys into their ears.
Ear Inserts-We have also noticed in recent years, that people wearing ear pods or plugs, earphones and hearing aid ear moulds are prone to wax accumulation as these push the wax back inside of the ear canal and interfere with normal migration of the dead skin and ear wax. A similar observation is noted in children, who constantly use earphone inserts for music and gaming, and our suggestion has been to try and limit the use of external interference, if possible and observe any benefits.
Are you doing anything that could possibly be interfering with natural wax migration?
Remember despite your best efforts, some people simply make up too much wax or their ear canal anatomy itself poses a challenge for that wax migration. Ear canal shape and size varies from person to person and generally people with narrow, bendy and hairy ear canals find it difficult to get that wax out naturally. NHS (2021) highlights various causes for wax build up: Earwax build-up – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
If that is the case, then a healthcare professional will be able to tell you if your canal has a slightly challenging flight path for the wax to navigate through. They may also advise you to visit them more frequently than usual.
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