How future ready are q-tips?

 

Q-tips are everywhere. In contrast to the explicit warning label on each box not to use it for cleaning the ear, the majority of customers around the world are doing so. They are buying billions of qtips each year and the only reason why the consumption is so high is because it is used for removing the earwax. On the first look the procedure looks harmless. The user can remove earwax and won't feel pain. Everything looks fine.

What most newbies doesn't know is, that 700 Million people each year have to visit ENT doctors around the globe only because they have have clogged ear and sometimes an ear infection or more serious diseases. The problem with qtips is that the catastrophic effect will occur over a longer timespan. It takes some months until the cerumen is compressed near the ear drum. Then the person will put his head under water and bacteria will flood into the ear. But the water can't leave the ear canal and an infection will grow exponential.

So if qtips are wrong, what is the recommended alternative? It is called a aspirator bulb. This rubber device is filled with water and the water is pressed into the ear canal. The same technique is used by most ENT doctors to remove the ear wax. It is a but unusual in doing so but it works well enough.

A while ago there was an interesting paper published in which the relationship between using qtips and ear infections was analyzed. the conclusion was that nearly all ear infections are produced by qtips and nothing else. This was determined by two trial groups. The first volunteer group were using qtips, the other not. And then it was compared which persons have to deal with otitis media and which not. Another hint why qtips might be a bad idea to remove cerumen is available if someone analyzes the situation from a technical perspective. Suppose in a small opening there is some dust and somebody moves a qtip back and forth, it is very likely that a remaining fraction of the dust remains in the opening forever and gets compressed at the dead end. And exactly at this location a lot of bacteria can grow.

Suppose somebody feels that his ears are clogged. So it might be caused by compressed earwax. The interesting situation is that a look into the ear canal with a microscope will show, that the cerumen is always located very deep in the canal so that it is impossible to remove it. Deep means, that the cerumen is next to the ear drum and this organ is very sensitive. What wil happen if somebody tries to clean earwax which is very deep in the ear canal? Right, it will hurt the eardrum for sure. Such a situation is not a trivial one but it is serious health condition. The interesting point is, that many people are affected by this issues. 100% of the world population is equipped with ears and all these ears are producing a lot of earwax every day. That means, doing a mistake in this procedure is equal to a global health problem.