Medically reviewed by William Truswell, MD Putting Q-tips in your ear canal can push wax deeper, irritate the skin, and damage the eardrum. Injuries from cotton swabs are common and can lead to pain, ...

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. The doctors’ advice hasn’t changed much, but ...

Q. I’ve heard Q-tips are bad for my ears, what about foam earplugs? A. Many people reach for cotton swabs to get wax out of their ears, but doctors recommend avoiding that temptation. For one, wax isn ...

Sure, yes, I knew that the ear is an erogenous zone. But never did I expect that a quick, news-you-can-use post about the dangers of sticking Q-tips into that zone would draw an outpouring of "Noooooo ...

It turns out, you shouldn’t use a cotton swab to clean out your ears. Your ears are self-cleaning machines, with very little maintenance required. One of its best defenses? Earwax. People are putting ...

Dominic Peter Power works for the University of Melbourne Audiology Clinic, which provides custom made ear plugs. “Never put anything smaller than your elbow into your ear” is something we’ve been ...