Swabs have myriad uses. The most common ones have a cotton tip and are used to clean hard to reach places, apply medicine or to fine-tune an art project. They are often referred to as "Q-tips," which is short for "Quick tip."
Swabs used in clinical settings generally have a long wooden stick are usually packed individually to ensure that they are sterile. Cotton swabs purchased for the home have a shorter handle and come packaged together in quantities of 50, 100 or more.
In addition, specialized swabs are used to test substances like the amount of lead on household items and objects or the amount of mercury on surfaces.
What to Look for
Since many cotton swabs come in different sizes from swab tip to stick, choose a swab that will best suit your intended use. Special infant safety swabs can be purchased that prevent the potential for pushing the cotton tip too far inside the child's ear canal. They include a small bulb that will gently clean the outer surface of the ear and remove any debris that is lodged inside the ear.
When purchasing a swab testing kit for a particular substance like lead, choose one that is easy to use and effective. A Consumer Reports evaluation of such kits showed that the Homax Lead Check kit, the Lead Inspector kit and the Lead Check Household Lead Test Kit were easy to use and were effective at identifying lead on toys and other household items and surfaces. The kits work by rubbing special swabs on the surface of an object and waiting to see if the swab changes color indicating the presence of the specific chemical.
Common Pitfalls
In 2008, a Canadian man died of an infection after he pierced his eardrum after using a cotton swab to clean his ear. The perforation caused an infection from his outer ear to spread to his ear canal and brain. It is therefore necessary to heed the warnings on the cotton swab package and not penetrate the ear too deeply with the cotton swab or apply excess pressure when cleaning out the ear. It is particularly necessary to exercise extreme caution when cleaning out the ears of babies or young children.
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