4 ms·
Doctors admonish us to leave earwax alone. Why won’t anyone listen?
- davelnewton 10y agoThey can't hear because their ear canals are filled with earwax.
- PaulHoule 10y agoMy doc tells me I should keep my ears clean and warns I could be temporarily deafened if I don't clean out the wax. Of course I have a gene variant that makes me secrete a lot of wax.
- Nomentatus 10y agoBecause they go too far, and exclude fingertips, when they ought to be teaching how to (gently!) use vacuum and van der Waals forces (stickiness) to remove the wax, or at least move it away from the sensitive workings. If you don't clean, and your canal partially collapses or is narrow for whatever reason, then it can seal, cut off oxygen and cause permanent nerve damage that can lead to permanent discomfort and pain. There are risks on both sides, not just on one side. Our bodies want it out for a reason. Just not with a nail or other tool. Darwin and Evolution can't be swept aside; our wish to remove earwax is not a silly artifact.