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I see it every single day. Someone sits down in my consultation chair, and when I look in their ear canal, I can immediately tell they've been using cotton buds. The wax is pushed deep into the canal, compacted against the eardrum. The skin is red and irritated. Sometimes there are small scratches or abrasions. Occasionally, there's even a bit of cotton wool stuck in there, left behind from a previous attempt.
"Do you use cotton buds in your ears?" I ask.
The answer is almost always yes, usually followed by a slightly sheepish admission. "I know I'm not supposed to, but it feels so satisfying." Or "I've always done it." Or "How else am I supposed to clean my ears?"
Look, I get it. The urge to clean your ears with a cotton bud is powerful. It feels productive. It feels hygienic. And that sensation when you twist the cotton bud around in your ear? Oddly satisfying, isn't it?
But here's the uncomfortable truth. Every time you put a cotton bud in your ear canal, you're making things worse. Not better. Worse.
What Cotton Buds Actually Do
Let's talk about what happens when you insert a cotton bud into your ear canal. You're probably thinking you're removing earwax, right? Cleaning out the gunk, keeping your ears fresh and clear.
That's not what's happening.
Your ear canal is roughly the diameter of a pencil. The cotton bud is nearly as wide as the canal itself. When you push it in, there's nowhere for the wax to go except deeper. You're not removing wax—you're pushing it further into your ear, compacting it against your eardrum.
Think of it like this. Imagine trying to clean a narrow tube by pushing a plunger through it. The plunger doesn't remove what's in the tube—it just pushes everything to the far end, packing it tightly. That's exactly what happens in your ear canal.
The wax that was sitting harmlessly near the opening of your ear, ready to fall out naturally, is now compressed deep inside. What was a thin, protective coating has become a hard plug. And that plug isn't going anywhere without professional help.
This compacted wax creates all the symptoms people associate with earwax problems. Hearing loss. Fullness. Discomfort. Tinnitus. The very problems you were trying to prevent by "cleaning" your ears are actually caused by your cleaning attempts.
The Damage You Can't See
Pushing wax deeper isn't the only problem. Cotton buds can cause direct physical damage to your ear canal and eardrum, and you might not even realise it's happening.
The skin lining your ear canal is incredibly thin and delicate—thinner than the skin on your eyelids. It's designed to be protected by a layer of earwax, not subjected to regular scrubbing with cotton. When you insert a cotton bud, you're scraping this delicate skin, creating microscopic abrasions even if you're being gentle.
These tiny injuries might not hurt immediately, but they compromise your ear canal's natural defences. The skin becomes inflamed and irritated. The protective wax layer is stripped away. Your ear canal, which should be a hostile environment for bacteria and fungi, becomes vulnerable to infection.
Repeated cotton bud use can lead to chronic inflammation of the ear canal. The skin becomes perpetually red, swollen, and irritated. Some people develop a condition called otitis externa—inflammation of the outer ear canal—that becomes chronic and difficult to treat. The irony is painful. You're trying to keep your ears clean and healthy, but you're actually creating a chronic condition that requires medical treatment.
Scratches and abrasions in your ear canal can become infected. The warm, moist environment provides ideal conditions for bacterial or fungal growth, particularly when the protective wax layer has been removed. What starts as a minor scratch can develop into a painful ear infection that requires antibiotics or antifungal treatment.
The Risk to Your Eardrum
Here's where things get really serious. Your eardrum sits at the end of your ear canal, roughly 2.5 centimetres from the opening. That's not very far. A standard cotton bud can easily reach it.
Your eardrum is a thin membrane—about the thickness of tissue paper. It's remarkably resilient under normal circumstances, but it's not designed to withstand direct contact with objects. When a cotton bud touches your eardrum, even lightly, it can cause pain and temporary hearing changes.
But the real danger comes from accidental perforation. You're cleaning your ear, someone bumps your elbow, or you slip slightly, and suddenly the cotton bud is pushed hard against your eardrum. The membrane tears. The pain is immediate and severe. Your hearing drops suddenly. You might see blood on the cotton bud.
Eardrum perforations from cotton buds are more common than you might think. We see cases regularly at our clinic. Most perforations heal on their own over several weeks, but some require surgical repair. During the healing period, you're at increased risk of ear infections, and you need to keep water out of your ear completely—no swimming, careful showering, no getting your head wet.
Even without perforation, repeated contact with your eardrum can cause changes to the membrane. It can become thickened or scarred, potentially affecting your hearing permanently. Some people develop a condition called tympanosclerosis, where calcium deposits form in the eardrum, making it stiff and less responsive to sound vibrations.
The Itch-Scratch Cycle
One of the most frustrating aspects of cotton bud use is the itch-scratch cycle it creates. Let me explain how this works.
Your ear canal needs a thin layer of wax to stay healthy. This wax moisturises the skin and creates a protective barrier. When you remove too much wax with cotton buds, your ear canal becomes dry. Dry skin itches.
So what do you do when your ear itches? You reach for a cotton bud to scratch it. The temporary relief feels wonderful. But you've just removed more protective wax, making your ear canal even drier. The itch returns, stronger than before. So you use the cotton bud again. And again. And again.
You're caught in a cycle where the solution to the problem is actually causing the problem. The more you clean your ears, the more they need cleaning. Or so it seems. What's really happening is that you're disrupting your ear's natural balance, creating a chronic condition that wouldn't exist if you just left your ears alone.
Some people become psychologically dependent on cotton bud use. The sensation becomes a habit, almost a compulsion. They feel uncomfortable if they don't clean their ears daily. They carry cotton buds with them. They use them multiple times a day. This isn't cleanliness—it's a habit that's causing harm.
The Myth of Ear Hygiene
Let's address the elephant in the room. You think your ears need cleaning, don't you? You think earwax is dirty, unhygienic, something that needs to be removed regularly to maintain cleanliness.
This belief is completely wrong.
Earwax isn't dirt. It's not a sign of poor hygiene. It's a natural, healthy secretion that your body produces for important protective reasons. Trying to remove it is like trying to remove the tears from your eyes or the saliva from your mouth. You wouldn't do that, would you? So why do it to your ears?
Your ears are self-cleaning. The skin lining your ear canal grows from the inside out, slowly migrating towards the opening. Earwax rides along on this conveyor belt of skin, carrying trapped dirt, dust, and dead skin cells out of your ear naturally. When you chew, talk, or move your jaw, the motion helps push the wax along its journey outward.
This system works perfectly when left alone. The wax that reaches the outer part of your ear—the part you can see—can be gently wiped away with a damp cloth. That's all the cleaning your ears need. The inside of your ear canal doesn't need cleaning at all. It's cleaning itself constantly, without any help from you.
When you interfere with this system by using cotton buds, you disrupt the natural process. You push wax back in when it's trying to come out. You remove the protective layer that keeps your ear canal healthy. You create problems that wouldn't otherwise exist.
What the Packaging Actually Says
Here's something ironic. Pick up a box of cotton buds and read the packaging. You'll find a warning that says something like "Do not insert into ear canal" or "Not for use in ears." The manufacturers know their product shouldn't be used in ears. They're telling you not to do it.
So why do they make them if not for cleaning ears? Cotton buds have plenty of legitimate uses. Applying makeup. Cleaning small objects or tight spaces. Arts and crafts. First aid. They're useful tools for many purposes. Cleaning inside your ear canal just isn't one of them.
The warning is there for good reason. The manufacturers are aware of the injuries and complications their product can cause when misused. They're trying to protect themselves from liability, yes, but they're also trying to protect you from harm.
Yet millions of people ignore this warning every day. The cotton bud industry knows that ear cleaning is a major use of their product, even though they explicitly advise against it. It's a strange situation where everyone knows the product is being used inappropriately, but the practice continues anyway.
The "But It Feels So Good" Problem
I know what you're thinking. "But it feels so satisfying when I use a cotton bud in my ear. That sensation can't be bad for me, can it?"
That pleasurable sensation you're feeling? It's not a sign that you're doing something good for your ears. It's actually your vagus nerve being stimulated.
The vagus nerve is one of the major nerves in your body, running from your brain down through your neck and chest to your abdomen. Branches of this nerve supply your ear canal. When you stimulate these nerve endings with a cotton bud, it triggers a pleasurable sensation. Some people even experience a cough reflex or a tickling sensation in their throat.
This nerve stimulation feels good, but it doesn't mean the action is beneficial. It's similar to scratching an itch—it provides temporary relief and satisfaction, but if you're scratching broken skin or an infected area, you're making the underlying problem worse even though it feels good in the moment.
The satisfaction you feel from using cotton buds is actually reinforcing a harmful behaviour. Your brain associates the action with pleasure, making it harder to stop even when you know you shouldn't be doing it. It's a habit loop that can be difficult to break.
What You Should Do Instead
Right, so if cotton buds are off the table, what are you supposed to do? How do you keep your ears clean?
The answer is simpler than you think. For most people, the answer is: do nothing.
Your ears clean themselves. Let them do their job. The wax will migrate out naturally, and when it reaches the outer part of your ear—the part you can see without looking into the ear canal—you can gently wipe it away with a damp cloth or tissue.
That's it. That's all the ear cleaning most people need.
If you feel like you have excess wax, or if you're experiencing symptoms of wax buildup, the solution is professional ear cleaning. Modern methods like microsuction allow trained practitioners to remove problematic wax safely and effectively, without any of the risks associated with cotton buds.
Some people do produce more wax than others, or have ear canals that don't self-clean as effectively. If you're one of these people, regular professional ear cleaning becomes part of your routine healthcare, just like dental check-ups or eye tests. There's no shame in needing help with something your body doesn't handle on its own.
For the outer part of your ear—the visible bits—gentle cleaning with a damp cloth is fine. You can clean the folds and crevices of your outer ear as part of your normal washing routine. Just don't put anything inside the ear canal itself.
Breaking the Cotton Bud Habit
If you've been using cotton buds regularly, stopping can be challenging. The habit is ingrained, and your ears might feel uncomfortable for a while as they adjust to not being constantly interfered with.
Here's what to expect when you stop. Your ears might feel itchy or uncomfortable for the first week or two. This is your ear canal recovering from the chronic irritation and beginning to restore its natural wax balance. The sensation will pass.
You might notice more visible wax in the outer part of your ear. This is normal—it's the wax that's been pushed deep into your ear canal finally making its way out. It's a sign that your ear's self-cleaning system is working again.
Your hearing might actually improve as the compacted wax deep in your ear canal gradually breaks down and migrates outward. Or you might need professional cleaning to remove the impacted wax that cotton buds have created over months or years of use.
The urge to use cotton buds will fade over time. Like any habit, it takes a few weeks to break. Find alternative ways to satisfy the urge—perhaps use cotton buds for their intended purposes (makeup application, cleaning small objects) so you're still using them, just not in your ears.
When to Seek Professional Help
If you've been using cotton buds regularly and you're experiencing symptoms—hearing loss, fullness, pain, itching, discharge—you probably have impacted wax or ear canal damage that needs professional attention.
Don't try to fix it yourself with more cotton bud use or with over-the-counter ear drops. You might make things worse. Professional assessment and treatment offer the safest path to recovery.
At Earwax Removal Devon, we see the effects of cotton bud use every day. We're not here to judge—we're here to help. We can remove the impacted wax safely, assess any damage to your ear canal or eardrum, and provide advice on preventing problems in the future.
The relief when impacted wax is removed is immediate. Your hearing returns. The fullness disappears. The discomfort resolves. And once you've experienced how much better your ears feel when they're properly cared for, it becomes easier to resist the temptation to reach for those cotton buds.
The Bottom Line
Cotton buds and ear canals don't mix. The packaging tells you not to use them in your ears. Medical professionals tell you not to use them in your ears. And now I'm telling you not to use them in your ears.
Your ears don't need the kind of cleaning that cotton buds provide. They need to be left alone to do what they do naturally. When problems do arise, they need professional care, not DIY attempts with cotton buds that make things worse.
Breaking the cotton bud habit is one of the best things you can do for your ear health. Your ears will thank you for it.
If you're struggling with earwax buildup, ear discomfort, or the effects of cotton bud use, book an appointment with us today. We'll get your ears back to health and help you keep them that way. No cotton buds required.
