What is earwax — and should you get rid of it? - Henry C. Ou

Explore why earwax forms, its purpose in our health, and whether or not we should be trying to get rid of it.

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Grooming paraphernalia has been found in numerous archeological sites, many of which have included earwax removal tools. And earwax evacuation remains a popular hygienic habit today. But what is earwax? And are the efforts to eliminate it actually good for us? Henry C. Ou explores the important role earwax plays in our health.

Lesson by Henry C. Ou, directed by Yuriy Polyashko, Max Zaglotskyi, Darvideo Animation Studio.

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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Liz Candee, Ugur Doga Sezgin, Karmi Nguyen, John C. Vesey, Yelena Baykova, Nick Johnson, Carlos H. Costa, Jennifer Kurkoski, Ryan B Harvey, Akinola Emmanuel, Jose Arcadio Valdes Franco, Sebastiaan Vleugels, Karl Laius, JY Kang, Abhishek Goel, Heidi Stolt, Nicole Sund, Karlee Finch, Mario Mejia, Denise A Pitts, Doug Henry, Keven Webb, Mihai Sandu, Deepak Iyer, Javid Gozalov, Kyanta Yap, Rebecca Reineke, William Biersdorf, Patricia Alves Panagides, Yvette Mocete, Cyrus Garay, Samuel Barbas, LadyGeek, Marin Kovachev, Penelope Misquitta, Hans Peng, Gaurav Mathur, Erik Biemans, Tony, Michelle, Katie and Josh Pedretti, Hoai Nam Tran, Kack-Kyun Kim, Michael Braun-Boghos, zjweele13, Anna-Pitschna Kunz, Edla Paniguel, Thomas Mungavan, Jaron Blackburn, Venkat Venkatakrishnan, ReuniteKorea and Aaron Henson.

[PramkLuna]

"No human earwax, wet or dry, would make a good candle"

TED ED answering the real questions

[kryptonsa]

My craziest moment as a kid was pulling an insect completely mummified in earwax out of my ear. Never doubted the usefulness of earwax since.

[AmmoBloke]

TedEx should consider adding audio to their videos.

[mickmash]

My friend is a med student studying to be an ENT (ear nose throat). The amount of ranting I've heard about q-tips and ear candling is amazing.

[scottastbury]

Me eating peanut butter while watching this was a mistake.

[lillywho]

4:35 There are even candles for that purpose that are actually designed to look like ear wax at the core, so that the debris it leaves behind makes you think you got the gunk out!!

[panzer_TZ]

Recently learned this hard way. Bad allergies irritated my inner ear and it was difficult to hear. I thought the issue was too much earwax, so I used an ear wax remover. Took a shower, water got in and both ears got horrible infections. Absolute agony for 2 weeks. After such an agonizing experience, I'll never purposefully try to remove earwax for as long as I live.

[rafaelgabriel]

I just heard my earwaxes speak: "Don't you dare get rid of me."

[cavi]

As someone who has managed to clean out the wax thoroughly enough my doctor has commented on it, it’s not worth succeeding. Because once it’s that clean you can feel it forming again/migrating. The only way to stop that feeling (besides continuing the cycle) is to let it build up again to healthy levels. Also leaves your ears vulnerable and more likely to ache from activities that expose your ears to weather/temperature changes.

[Pougie]

An ENT one said tome that every time I shower I should allow the water to glick into each ear canal a few times and then glick out. I've been doing this for years, and have been told by other ENTs that my ears are the cleanest they've seen in a while. Best and simplest hygiene habit I have.

[kidbonesonline]

Was just cleaning my ears out when this popped up in my notifications. How convenient.

[ConradCaribou]

5:22 Ah-ha! This settles the Over Ear Headphones Vs. Ear Buds debate! It totally knew I was on the right side with the former.

[nishchalthakur]

5:23
Giving your ears a break from earplugs and earphones

*Me using earphones while watching this video*
👁️👄👁️

[npccoco]

I got the notification as I was picking my ear

[litera_cj]

"Health care providers have tried and true methods of gently clearing blockages." Based on personal experience, this tends to consist of blasting water directly into the ear until whatever is blocking the ear washes out. It's the method I use now at home. I'll never forget when I was at the doctor's office, getting my ear cleaned, and felt a sudden rush of relief when a particularly large wax clot got dislodged and the nurse said, "Wow, that's a big one! What would you like to name it?"

[RosheenQuynh]

I'm SO glad earwax buildup was mentioned, I was getting worried for a minute there! Mine got so bad that I was partially deaf (well, my hearing was muffled) for three days! I had to go to the ER to get it all out. Gonna have to invest in those gentle methods cuz the buildup is constant.

[shade]

I'm one of those people who has issues with earwax buildup. I problem is mostly anatomical, I have very narrow ear canals and that makes it prone to buildup. Physiology can also play a part; if you have oily skin, that can also be a contributing factor. IDK if having dry ear wax makes you less prone to buildup, but I'd imagine it does.

I do clean my ear canals myself *AGAINST THE ADVICE* of every ENT I've been to, but in my defense, it does reduce my ENT visits. I only do it once a week unless the buildup is severe. I soak with hydrogen peroxide (baby oil also works) for 3 minutes and I do use swabs, but only the small ones, and be very gentle, and only on the outer half of the ear canal; that's were the buildup happens.

[hominidan]

This is definitely the most beautiful video on earwax I've seen today.
Also incredibly cool of Mr. Narrator to read my thought on candles

[NiceGuyE]

Realizing this was probably not the best video to watch on my lunch break. Interesting nonetheless.

[SciMinute]

Thank you, TED-ED, for consistently producing such wonderful videos!