Listen to me - don't put cotton buds in your ears.......



Next time you are tempted to poke inside your ear with a cotton bud, bear in mind that, each year, 7,000 people attend hospital with injuries caused by these innocuous-looking implements - more than are harmed by razor blades.

According to recent research, 36 per cent of adults use cotton buds to clean their ears, and most of them know that it is potentially dangerous. One in six of those interviewed knew somebody who had sustained damage from a bud. While getting one stuck inside the ear - the most common problem - is rarely serious, regular use can lead to skin irritation, infection and permanent hearing loss.

"In most circumstances, wax is actually beneficial to the ear," says Simon Baer, a consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon at the Conquest Hospital in Hastings. "It causes foreign bodies to adhere to it, preventing them from going further into the ear, and it has anti-bacterial properties. Removing it is like taking the wax off the surface of polished wooden furniture. It makes the delicate underlying skin of the ear more susceptible to infection."

Wax consists of a mixture of exfoliated skin and secretions and is produced in the outer third of the ear canal. Some people produce large amounts, which can affect hearing, especially if the wax becomes waterlogged and expands - after swimming, for example. Excessive ear wax tends to run in families. It is best treated by having the ears syringed with warm water under medical supervision.

"Removing wax with a bud can leave the skin of the ear feeling irritated," says Mr Baer. "This leads people to twiddle about even more, so they get into a vicious cycle.

"Even the most experienced cotton bud user will tend to push significant quantities of wax further in as well as removing some. They ram the bud inside the ear, like a soldier pushing gunpowder down a cannon, so it ends up in parts of the ear where it should not be, and can then affect hearing."

If the bud is inserted too far, there is a risk of perforating the eardrum, causing sudden pain, bleeding and temporary hearing loss. In most cases, the injury heals itself. Should the bud damage the ossicles - the tiny bones deep inside the ear - dizziness and permanent hearing loss can result.

As a teenager, Patricia Klein used cotton buds regularly. She was prone to ear infections and, by her own admission, dug deep in order to clear out any gunk left behind.

"I realise now that it is a really bad idea to stick cotton buds in your ears, but it is somewhat addictive," says Klein, 32, a documentary film producer.

After one infection, she was having her ears syringed when she recoiled in pain. "I visited an ENT specialist who thought I had perforated it, probably with a bud. Although it had healed, I have damaged my eardrum and it does not feel quite right. I have a different sensation in my left ear to my right one; not pain, but a slight discomfort.

"My hearing is normal, but when I lie on my right ear at night, I feel that I cannot hear as well with my left."

According to Mr Baer, most people have no need to clean out their ears, however therapeutic the experience. For those who produce large quantities of wax, a new product should prove safer than cotton buds. Audiclean is a sterile solution made from sea water, minerals and trace elements that is gently sprayed into the ear - not directly into the canal - through a nozzle.

"Using it takes some practice," says Mr Baer. "But I think there may well be a place for the product for people who have been told by their doctor that they have excessive ear wax. The old advice still applies: nobody should put anything smaller than a finger inside their ear."