Experts: Don't Clean Ears With Cotton Bud

Cotton buds should not be used to clean ears, health officials say.

Inserting a bud could damage the ear canal and eardrum and push wax further down, according to the health watchdog.

The draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) also says that ear syringing, in which a large metal syringe is used to pump water manually into the ear to clear out wax, is potentially harmful and should no longer be used
Its committee agreed that buds may be a ‘hazard’ that can cause infections or push wax further into the ear canal.

The guideline says the ear canal is ‘self-cleaning’, with excess wax falling out on its own, and that the entrance to the ears can be cleaned with a damp flannel.

Rather than manual syringing, which can cause trauma, Nice recommends ‘ear irrigation’, in which an electronic machine pumps water safely into the ear at a controlled pressure to remove problem wax.