Despite the warnings, many adults use cotton swabs to clean earwax from their own--and sometimes their children's--ears. Swabs, according to Alan Greene, MD, should never be used in the ear because they can cause infection, injure or perforate the eardrum, and irritate the skin that lines the ear canal. On his website DrGreen.com, he states that swabbing out excess wax actually causes the ear to produce more wax than before, creating a cycle of excessive wax, cleaning and more excessive wax.
Identification
Children's Medical Center in Dallas, Texas describes earwax, the technical name of which is cerumen, as a "mix of secretions produced in the outer area of the ear canal, along with hair and dead skin." Lining the ear canal are the sebaceous glands, which secrete the wax; the wax is then mixed with sloughed off dead skin cells.
Function
After being made in the ear's outer canal, earwax works its way toward the outer opening of the ear, where it falls out naturally or is removed during normal bathing. The wax functions as protection for the eardrum, says KidsHealth by Nemours, and it creates a waterproof ear canal liner. The wax acts as a sticky trap, trapping foreign contaminants like dirt and other particles, preventing them from damaging the eardrum. Do not attempt to remove the earwax unless it causes hearing problems or pain or discomfort for the child.
Home Wax Removal
Most of the time, earwax causes no problems and should be left alone to perform its job. However, if a child says that her ear is uncomfortable or painful and you can see a good deal of earwax, you can try loosening and removing the wax at home. AskDrSears.com suggests a mixture one part room temperature water to one part hydrogen peroxide. Have the child lay on her side, with her plugged ear facing up. Place as many drops in the ear as it can hold. After about five minutes, have the child sit up and let the solution drip out of her ear. Repeat this process once a day for three days, and then flush the ear with lukewarm water sprayed into the ear with a rubber bulb-type syringe. Watch for wax pieces to flow out of the ear; if you don't see any, try the hydrogen peroxide/water drops for a few more days and attempt the flush again.
Medical Wax Removal
When earwax removal at home is unsuccessful, take the child to a doctor, who may choose to remove the wax to ease the pain or to get a better view of the eardrum, reports KidsHealth. Children's Medical Center explains that physicians usually remove excess wax with one of several methods, including irrigating the ear with wax-dissolving solutions or removing it manually through suction or with other specialty medical devices.
Warnings
Children's Medical Center recommends bringing the child to a doctor if he is complaining of hearing problems, pain, itching or ringing in the ear. If impacted wax is not removed, it can cause infections and hearing loss, reports Dr. Peter Roland, a Children's Medical Center ear, nose and throat specialist.
Ear candling, a homeopathic remedy, is said to remove earwax through a vacuum created by placing one end of the candle in the ear and lighting the other end. However, C. Christopher Smith, MD reports that ear candling not only doesn't work, but is dangerous. He has had patients who have burned their eardrums with melted wax, he says, causing them "excruciating symptoms" and sometimes requiring surgery.
