Page 11 - Women’s Health - Australia (February 2020)
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Ask
Women’s Health
We asked so you don’t have to
Pill
pr oblems
Why does cleaning
my ears feel so
darn good?
How can something so wrong
feel so… right? No, not pashing
Brian from IT at Friday drinks,
but cleaning your ears with a
cotton bud. That you have lots
of nerve endings in your ears
might explain why it feels so
Is the satisfying going to town on
them, but when you stick a
inside cotton bud in your ear, you’re
hitting more than just nerve
of my endings. “Inserting cotton buds
in the ear might feel like it gets
handbag excess wax even deeper into the
wax out, but it also pushes
a health ear canal,” says audiologist
Duncan Collet-Fenson.
hazard? the ear canal also increases the
“Inserting a foreign body into
risk of infection.” So how
Are you ready for should you clean your ears?
this? In a 2016 study, “You shouldn’t,” explains
microbiologists from Collet-Fenson. “Having earwax
London Metropolitan is bothnormal and useful, as it
protects vital parts of the ear
University analysed from infection and trauma.
handbags and make- Symptoms of excess wax in your
up bags, some as ear canal include severe pain,
little as six months odour, hearing loss and fluid
old, and discovered secretion from the ears.” If
strains of germs that you’re experiencing any of
cause salmonella those symptoms, see a
and even meningitis pharmacist or GP who can
lurking within. Yikes. advise you on the best way to
get the wax removed (there’s
The researchers noevidence that ear candles
recommend cleaning work, FYI). Oh, and the advice is
bags with disinfectants not to stick anything smaller
or biodegradable than an elbow in your ear
antiseptic wipes every canal. Go on, try it.
month; we suggest a
weekly tip-out, too.
FEBRUARY 2020 womenshealth.com.au 11
