Being extremely picky about what you put in your ears.  This is Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, Speaking of Health.  The perceived culprit is ear wax.  Many of us simply don’t want it inside our ears.  But when it comes to removing earwax, the nation’s Ear, Nose, and Throat specialists have some sharp advice:  They say “never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear!  Cotton tips are for cleaning out belly buttons – not ears.”  The members of the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery have a major point they want you to hear, and that’ to protect your ear.  Ear wax, they say, is produced towards the outer portion of the ear canal and is supposed to trap dust and sand particles to keep them from reaching the eardrum.

 If you have earwax way down into the ear, even on top of the eardrum, it may well be because you’ve been putting something in your ear to try to clean out wax; you should not be doing that, for you could damage the skin of  the ear or the eardrum itself.  It’s especially dangerous to try to clean our your ear canal if you have a hole in the eardrum, for washing water through such a hole in the eardrum could easily start up an ear infection.

 If after all these cautions you still feel the need to remove wax from your ears, check with a knowledgeable physician first for the proper technique.  A family doctor, pediatrician or, an ear, nose and throat specialist can suggest appropriate ear wax softening agents, tell you how to gently rinse out wax without sticking anything into your ear, and how to thoroughly dry the inside of the ear with alcohol.

   For a copy of this script, access our web site, speakingofhealth.com.  Speaking of Health, I’m Dr. Steven Andrew Davis for CBS News.