How Your Ears Clean Themselves

Put down those ear swabs! And think twice before purchasing an over the counter kit from your local pharmacy. If you aren't experiencing any major problems due to the wax in your ear, you might not have to clean your ears yourself. You see, your ears are perfectly capable of cleaning themselves, so there is often little need for you to go poking around in your ears with potentially unsafe methods of wax removal.

How Your Ears Clean Themselves

Many of us believe earwax is a nuisance problem that needs to be cleaned out of our ears. We think it is dirty and unhygienic, and so we make attempts to remove it ourselves. However, in most cases, we don't have to do anything at all. As we talk, yawn and chew, the lubricating properties of our ears naturally move old earwax towards the outside of our ears before new earwax is produced. As the earwax moves to the surface of the ear, it naturally dries up and flakes away. If you were to intervene with a cotton swab or another foreign object to remove earwax yourself, you would interrupt this natural process, and potentially cause a blockage in your ear canal. 

What is the purpose of earwax?

You might assume earwax has no purpose. And especially when the new earwax pushes old earwax away, you might assume your ears are functioning to get rid of it as soon as possible. However, this isn't true. While it might appear gross, earwax acts as your ear's own cleaning solvent. This sticky substance produced by the wax glands in the outer part of your ear has antimicrobial properties. It coats and moisturizes the ear canal, helps to lubricate our ears and keeps them clean. Earwax also traps the dirt, dust and grime that enters our ears, and prevents it from slipping down into our ear canals. 

Earwax can also provide protection from a buildup of fungi and other bacteria in the ear, thanks to its natural cleaning properties that protect the outer and inner layers of our ears. 

Do we need to clean our ears ourselves?

So, if earwax is adept at keeping our ears clean, do we need to buy an ear cleaning kit ourselves? Our short answer is no, and this is for two reasons. Firstly, because ears are self-cleaning, there might be no need to clean your ears yourself. However, if you do experience a buildup of earwax, and if this causes hearing loss, you should still think twice before cleaning your ears yourself. For the protection of your ears, you should visit an audiologist. He or she will advise you on what needs to be done and might use their own instruments to remove the earwax from your ears themselves. 

Earwax acts as a natural moisturizer that keeps our ears clean daily. It traps dirt and dust before infections occur, and it prevents bacteria and fungi from reaching the inner ear. It acts as our body's own defense mechanism and does the job of cleaning without our intervention. While you should certainly book an appointment with an audiologist if problems occur, you should still think twice before attempting to clean your ears yourself.