Ear Candling - Page 2

wrigley · #16 09-23-2005, 12:09 AM

I have no clue how accurate altmedicine.about.com is but when I read the following post on ear candling it freaked me out enough to never do this.

"Proponents of ear candling claim that it can help to remove ear wax and debris from the ear and facial sinuses. However, the external ear canal is not continuous with the middle ear, sinuses, Eustachian tube, and nasal passages when the ear drum (tympanic membrane) is normal and intact. Other manufacturers claim that smoke from the burning candles dries out the ear canal and stimulates the body's natural excretion of wax and dead cells, pollen, mold, parasites, and other debris. There is no evidence supporting these claims. Some people believe the dark, waxy debris that remains after ear candling is waxy candle remains, not ear wax.

Risks

There are some potential risks involved in ear candling:

Burns to the ear, skin, and hair from the hot wax

Obstruction of the ear canal due to wax dripping into the ear

Perforated ear drum

Is Ear Candling Necessary?

Ear wax has a protective role. It cleans and lubricates the ear, and can protect the ear canal from bacteria and fungus. The ear has a self-cleaning system that naturally removes ear wax. Most people do not require additional cleaning. However, a breakdown in this self-cleaning system can cause a condition known as cerumen impaction.

Cerumen impaction affects about 6% of the population and can cause reversible hearing loss, dizziness, and ringing in the ears. It occurs more frequently in individuals with mental retardation and in the older population. Physicians and other health care professionals are required to treat cerumen impaction.

Evidence

One study published in the journal Laryngoscope evaluated the efficacy and safety of ear candles. The researchers concluded that ear candles did not produce a vacuum. Their limited clinical study with eight ears showed that ear candling did not result in removal of ear wax from the ear canal and even caused candle wax to be deposited in some ears.

Regulation

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada classify ear candles as medical devices and consider the product to pose serious risk of fire, burns, and injury to the ear, surrounding skin, and hair.

References

1. Jabor MA, Amadee RG. Cerumen impaction. Journal of the La State Medical Society. 1977:149;358-62.
2. Roeser RJ, Ballachanda BB. Physiology, pathophysiology, and anthropology/epidemiology of human ear canal secretions. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology. 1997:8;391-400.
3. Seely DR, Quigley SM, Langman AW. Ear candles - efficacy and safety. Laryngoscope. 1996:106;1226-9

honeychile · #17 09-23-2005, 12:24 AM

I'm sold! No ear candling for me!!

UKDaisy · #18 09-23-2005, 12:57 AM

I had no clue things like this even existed.

Speaking of q-tips being dangerous.... one of my old guy friends from high school was cleaning his ears and the cotton part came off and he puntured his ear drum or something like that. I can't really remember, bc it was like 8 years ago... but yea, q-tips aren't that safe.

kddani · #19 09-23-2005, 06:18 AM

lol, I never said q-tips were perfectly safe, but if you use they right they're certainly safer than sticking something in your ear and lighting it on fire!

KSigRC- i've never heard of anyone having that problem. Certainly no one in my family or circle of friends has had that issue.

I think it's really gross to see someone with chunks of stuff in their ear... ewww

KSigkid · #20 09-23-2005, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kddani
lol, I never said q-tips were perfectly safe, but if you use they right they're certainly safer than sticking something in your ear and lighting it on fire!

KSigRC- i've never heard of anyone having that problem. Certainly no one in my family or circle of friends has had that issue.

I think it's really gross to see someone with chunks of stuff in their ear... ewww

Not that you know - and actually (I won't get too much into detail for the grossness factor), there are people who have earwax problems even if they use q-tips every day. In that case, like Rob said, ear roto-rooting would be the next step.

In either case, going to a doctor is the best option.

BBelleADPi · #21 09-23-2005, 08:43 AM

My husband, who is a physician, had to crawl out of bed one night to go to the ER to deal with one of his patients who had done this, and was in the most severe pain she had ever had. I think she screwed up her ear in a major way. My husband was furious, both at her stupidity and the fact that she waited until after 11 pm. to call. So while, yes, some people may have had success with this, you're basically playing Russian roulette with a major part of your body, and their ARE other options.

KSig RC · #22 09-23-2005, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kddani
SigRC- i've never heard of anyone having that problem. Certainly no one in my family or circle of friends has had that issue.

I think it's really gross to see someone with chunks of stuff in their ear... ewww

I'd be stunned if someone you know hasn't had ear irrigation performed - it's extremely common. The cause for the procedure is, almost invariably, use of Q-Tips and the subsequent deposits inside the ear canal (deeper than the 'visual chunks').

Remember that most people use Q-Tips far deeper than the actual visual area of the external ear - it's almost impossible not to.

KSigkid · #23 09-23-2005, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kddani
Certainly no one in my family or circle of friends has had that issue.

I'll bite the bullet on this one - I have had irrigation done a number of times. I'm a very clean and hygenic person; just someone who just happens to have the need to have it done. When I was younger, my pediatrician said I wouldn't have earaches because of the issue; I'm not sure how medically sound that assertion was, but he was right. I just have to have an irrigation every so often.

Part of that was using Q-tips, which made the problem worse. Part of it was just not going to a doctor sooner.

It's not exactly something that you run home and tell all your friends or family about; it's not a serious thing by any stretch of the imagination, but on the other hand it's not a topic of conversation all that often.

AchtungBaby80 · #24 09-23-2005, 11:25 AM

I definitely understand not wanting to have gobs of wax hanging out your ears, but the easy solution to this is just to take the corner of your towel or a piece of tissue after your shower or something and wipe around the outer edge of your ear. Don't stick anything down in there! There's no reason to--you could damage your ear, plus, no one can see down in there that far anyway so it's pointless. A doctor once told me never to stick anything smaller than a pinky finger in the ear.