Boing Boing Earwax Misinformation
Mark Frauenfelder has run a series of posts recently on Boing Boing about alternative ways to clean your ears. This culminated in a post yesterday evening about cleaning out earwax with a bobby pin. To stop this disturbing trend of vigilante ear cleanliness was our very own Grant S. Hamilton III, MD, from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Dr. Hamilton had a detailed response to the bobby pin post. He has some useful information, such as:
If people are this interested in cleaning their ears, an eyedropper with some saline and peroxide mixed together will dissolve or loosen most chunks of wax. Despite what your family doctor may recommend, never use pressurized water to irrigate your ears. That is a great way to perforate the ear drum.
Dr. Hamilton is in the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery. We’re just glad to have such expertise in town and are of course very glad to see that Boing Boing is so widely read that doctors over at the University Hospitals comment on it. We’re hoping too that this is the end of the earwax debate. For other appetizing topics, might I suggest?
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Does Frauenfelder have a freakish earwax problem, or what?
I've had my ears cleaned many times at the doctor (a luxury of the insured). "Nothing smaller than your elbow should be inserted into your ear," is the common response when they're asked how to clean ears. This include Q-Tips. This way you can build up some nice chunkage for the doctor to clean out. And on a really weird and gross level, it is a HIGHLY satisfying time.
Freakish it is indeed. Perhaps it's time for Boing Boing to do an earwax mini-blog. BB used to have guest bloggers, but they haven't for a long time. Maybe it's time for them to hire an earwax specialist.
I don't think I'd want my doctor to clean my ears though. My eyes and ears are my personal space, and any unnecessary intrusions are unwelcome. The one thing I've learned from all of this though is the existence of ear candles. Thank you, google adsense.
My earwax laughs at ear candles, though I do enjoy the danger of fire near my head.