THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
May 30, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic
NY Post
New York Post
3 Jan 2024


NextImg:I’m a doctor — this is the correct way to clean your ears to avoid injury

This is the way to be ear-responsible.

A UK doctor is sharing sound advice about how we should be cleaning our ears.

“How should you keep your ears clean? You don’t,” the 31-year-old general practitioner who goes by Dr. Sooj told his 58,700 TikTok followers last month.

“Your ears are self-cleaning,” the ear-thority explained in the 12-second TikTok, which has pulled in more than 18,000 views.

You shouldn’t put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear,” the doctor continued.

“You can get a flannel and wipe around the outside of the ear but if you’ve got any problems, then you need to see a doctor or nurse, and we’ll tell you what to do.”

A UK doctor is sharing how we should be cleaning our ears — and it’s so simple. “How should you keep your ears clean? You don’t,” a general practitioner who goes by Dr. Sooj said. Jam Press Vid/@doctorsooj
@doctorsooj

Doctor explains how to keep your ears clean | #doctorexplains #ears #earwax #health

♬ original sound – Dr Sooj

A 2017 study by Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio found that nearly 264,000 children visited US emergency rooms for cotton-swab-related ear injuries between 1990 and 2010.

That works out to about 12,500 injuries a year, or about 34 a day.

Ear cleaning was the most frequently documented circumstance at 73%, followed by playing with cotton tip applicators at 10%.

“The two biggest misconceptions I hear as an otolaryngologist are that the ear canals need to be cleaned in the home setting and that cotton tip applicators should be used to clean them; both of those are incorrect,” Dr. Kris Jatana, the senior study author, said in a statement at the time.

“The ear canals are usually self-cleaning,” Jatana added. “Using cotton tip applicators to clean the ear canal not only pushes wax closer to the ear drum, but there is a significant risk of causing minor to severe injury to the ear.”

A study by an Ohio hospital found that nearly 264,000 children visited emergency rooms for cotton-swab-related ear injuries between 1990 and 2010.
A study by an Ohio hospital found that nearly 264,000 children visited US emergency rooms for cotton-swab-related ear injuries between 1990 and 2010. Jam Press Vid/@doctorsooj

For his part, Sooj told Jam Press that “it’s quite common to see people in general practice with ear wax that has been impacted against their eardrums. [It can] lead to hearing difficulties, tinnitus, and even dizziness!”

A healthcare provider can remove excessive earwax with a long-handled spoon, forceps, irrigation, or a suction tool.

Sooj also discourages ear candling, which involves placing a lit, hollow candle in your ear to try to remove wax.

“It’s been widely discredited,” Sooj said last month of the practice.