The Ins and Outs of Safe Earwax Removal

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It may be something icky that you’d rather not think about, but earwax is a perfectly normal bodily secretion and a fact of life. Knowing how to control that gunk will allow you to hear

better and prevent infections, earaches and more.

So what, exactly, is this stuff? Well, earwax — the medical term is cerumen — is a waxy oil secreted by the tiny sebaceous and sweat glands that line the walls of the outer ear canal. A

small amount of earwax regularly migrates from deep in the ear canal to the outside of the ear — acting as a kind of conveyor belt — carrying a lot of bad stuff along with it. “These

secretions keep a flow going away from the eardrum toward the opening of the ear, catching dead skin cells, tiny hairs that line the ear canal and other types of microscopic debris along the

way,” explains Mark Vaughan, M.D., a family physician and medical director at Auburn Medical Group in Auburn, California. Eventually, when the waxy mixture reaches the outside of the ear,

it typically flakes off. Jaw movements, such as talking and chewing, help move things along.

Earwax on its own isn’t bad. “When ears are making the right amount of wax, it’s actually the sign of a healthy ear,” says Anh Nguyen-Huynh, M.D., an ENT-otolaryngologist affiliated with

Cleveland Clinic. Indeed, earwax acts as a protective lubricant that coats the ear canal, repelling water and preventing the skin from drying out. That waxy component is slightly acidic, so

it “creates an unfriendly environment” for the bacteria and fungus that tend to develop in the moist, dark environment of the inner ear, says Yu-Lan Mary Ying, M.D., an otolaryngologist–head

and neck surgeon affiliated with Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark. In fact, the wax of diabetic people is less acidic, making them more vulnerable to ear infections.

Not all earwax is the same. People of African or European descent, for example, have wax that’s moist and gooey, while most Asians have dry, flaky earwax.

problem

Some people are more prone to producing excessive earwax. A waxy buildup is particularly common in older adults. According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology (AAO), approximately 1 in

20 adults experience a buildup of earwax, and it’s even more common in older adults. About 12 million people seek medical care for earwax problems each year.

“One factor has to do with the effects that aging has on our glands — including the salivary glands in our mouth, the mucus glands in our nose and throat, and the glands in our ears — whose

secretions can change in consistency,” says Isaac Namdar, M.D., associate professor in the department of otolaryngology at Mount Sinai West Hospital. As we age, the secretions change in

consistency. Earwax becomes drier and harder and migrates more slowly out of the canal, causing dead skin particles to collect. Certain conditions that produce dry, flaking skin, such as

eczema, can also make it harder for the wax to exit.

What’s more, “it could be that the process of sloughing it off becomes more sluggish with age,” says Nguyen-Huynh. “Also, one of the things I notice in older patients is that many of them —

men in particular — have a copious amount of hair growing in the ear canal, which could impede the movement of skin and ear wax. And in some, the outer ear canal becomes narrower and less

firm with age, which can make it easy for wax to get trapped.”