Ear wax or ear wax, this yellowish secretion present in the ear canal, is wrongly considered as a sign of poor hygiene. However, it is not dirt, on the contrary it acts like a protective film. But what makes "human wax" so bad? And what troubles are attributed to him? Let us disentangle the truth from the false!
What is cerumen and what is its role?
This substance is actually a kind of protective film, hydrophobic and antiseptic, secreted by the sebaceous and sweat glands that constitute the conduit of the external ear. Earwax slowly moves along the duct and acts as a cleaner, collecting all the dust, dead skin and other impurities or foreign bodies that may cause an infection.
The cerumen decried wrongly!
Unfortunately, earwax does not have a good press, probably because of its appearance and its unpleasant odor. This is why we all make the mistake of trying to eradicate all traces by pushing cotton swabs, pen caps or any other sharp object, even if we martyrize our ears, without knowing that often the wax disintegrates of himself.
The most common mistake is inadvertent cleaning and too deep, a false movement and you perforate your eardrum but this is not the only risk you encounter. The ears too cleaned weaken the conduit which, rid of any traces of wax is no longer protected. Result: the skin becomes irritated, blistered and becomes excruciatingly painful. Often the infection leaves room for chronic eczema.
Ear wax plugs: causes and symptoms
Sometimes, when the earwax is secreted in excess or accumulates in the auditory walls, earplugs are formed. How to dissolve them? Everything lies in the art and the way to clean your ears! Believing to do well, we only complicate things by packing the wax and its residues of dust and dirt into the membrane of the eardrum. The wax builds up to form a hardened plug which in the long run causes an uncomfortable drop in hearing and even causes inflammation, edema, buzzing, itching and pain in the external ear canal.
The wearing of hearing aids, earphones or ear plugs also promote excess earwax. The discomfort and the decrease of hearing are all the more amplified by the water or the pressure which make inflate the cork. Hearing returns as soon as the excess of cerumen is extracted, which can sometimes reach more than two centimeters. If the plugs are accompanied by intense pain, severe itching, bleeding or fever, go consult emergency. Any release of odorous or purulent fluid should alarm you!
How to clean your ears safely?
Clean the wax gently using a moist wash cloth, with your index finger made of light circular motions. Limit yourself to the outer region of the ear canal. You can also soften the harder caps, just squirt a few drops of sweet almond oil into your ear canal.
So stay head bent over the side, put a small piece of cotton to prevent the liquid from flowing. And voila ! If, however, this method is unsuccessful and you are unable to dislodge the wax plug or alleviate the discomfort, a visit to the ENT (Otolaryngologist) is required.