It is best not to wipe your ears with a cotton swab
We bet you have done this regularly or you can still do it: clean your ears with a cotton swab. It’s easy and effective, because you can access everything and your ears will be much cleaner too. It sounds reasonable and harmless, but it is certainly not.
Did you know that a cotton swab can cause damage to your ears?
A vicious circle
By using a cotton swab to clean your ears you actually press the ear wax forward into your ears, which can damage them. Also, you are entering a vicious circle. Ear wax is produced only at the beginning of your ear canal which means it should only be collected there. You use cotton swabs to push it further into the ear canal which means there is no wax left in the area it should be. Result: extra wax for the ear.
Stop doing it
Then wipe it off with a cotton swab, after which your ear will start to make more ear wax again. That way, you stick to a pattern you can no longer get out of, unless you stop using cotton swabs. The only ear wax you need to remove is what you can see at the beginning of your ear canal. That’s all. Is your ear wax causing trouble? After that you can start using ear drops or you can visit a doctor for ear cleaning.