This is Explainer, a column that answers questions we all have (or should have). As someone who regularly “cleans” my ear canals with cotton swabs, a question hangs over me basically every day ...

According to Michigan Medicine, putting a Q-tip into the ear canal can be dangerous. The ear cleans itself by producing ear wax that slowly pushes towards the surface of the ear, which is then ...

The human ear is a magical organ that allows us to hear and helps keep our balance. It’s also the production site and happy home of ear wax — the orangey-brown, chunky, funky gunk that’s ...

The cotton swabs that most of us use to clean wax out of our ears are a lot more harmful than helpful. When you put a Q-tip in your ear, it actually ends up pushing most of the wax deeper into the ...

And yes, that means you shouldn't be using cotton swabs to remove wax ... ear canals that they break through the ear drum and cause an ear drum perforation. Sometimes, the cotton tip of the ...

(CNN) -- Every Q-tips box has a warning label: "Do not insert swab into ear canal," and if you're going to use it to clean your ears, gently swab the outer part only. But extracting wax from our ...

The human ear is a magical organ that allows us to hear and helps keep our balance. It’s also the production site and happy home of ear wax — the orangey-brown, chunky, funky gunk that’s ...

Hoffman, who admits to routinely using Q-tips despite common advice against ... using cotton swabs often pushes the wax deeper into the ear canal, leading to an earwax impaction, which can cause ...

Extracting wax takes some technique ... After all, people just can’t quit the habit of burrowing Q-tips deep into their ear canals, even when they know the risks it poses.

Q-tip removing water/wax…here come the itching and swimmer’s ear infections. Just use a washcloth once in a while to remove what has migrated out (and what anyone might see), and if you think ...

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