A common question we get at Highland Hearing Clinic is why do our ears produce wax in the first place? Wax does have a purpose. People who don't produce earwax tend to have dry, itchy ears. So one purpose is that wax acts as a lubricant for our ears. Also, skin cells are always replacing themselves. For other parts of our body, dead skin cells get rubbed off by our clothes and any time that part of our skin is being touched or scratched. Since we should not be touching the inside of our ear canals, wax has a role of collecting dead skin cells and migrating this material to the opening of the canal where it can be removed or even fall out onto your pillow at night.

Health professionals can often tell by looking in someone's ear whether or not they use cotton tips in their ear canals. These round-ended tools tend to push the wax deeper in their ear canal than the wax is normally produced. This is especially likely if someone has a narrow ear canal. You are better off waiting for the wax to migrate naturally to the edge of the canal and remove it with a facecloth or baby fingernail.

There is also the risk of damaging your ear with a cotton swab. If inserted too far down the ear canal, the eardrum can be perforated. We have also seen the cotton fall off the end of the cotton swab in the ear canal.