05/18/2026
"I was reminded recently of the old saying many of us heard from our mothers: “Don’t put anything in your ear smaller than your elbow.” Of course, few of us keep this command perfectly. Q tips, bobby pins, fingers, match sticks, and the occasional bead somehow find their way into many an ear canal.
Recently, I got a call from a worst-case scenario of this transgression. A young lady had been rushing around doing a few things while simultaneously cleaning her ear canal with a Q tip. As she turned quickly her elbow hit the wall jamming the Q tip deep into her ear canal breaking through her ear drum and disrupting the bones of hearing.
This trauma left her nearly deaf in that ear and in tremendous pain. In addition, a nearly constant loud ringing in the ear started up. After many weeks of enduring these symptoms, some of the hearing returned, the pain eased, and the ringing subsided somewhat. She is currently looking at possible surgery to partially restore the middle ear anatomy.
Thankfully, few have this level of consequences for introducing Q tips into the delicate ear canal. Still, we strongly recommend abandoning Q tip usage in the ear canal. For most, ear wax (cerumen) works its own way out. For those where it doesn’t, over-the-counter drops that liquify the wax followed by gentle irrigation (at home or at your physician’s office) usually does the trick with much less danger..."
In a recent article in The Daily Times, Dr. Smith discusses common causes for ear pain. See the link below for the full article.
https://www.thedailytimes.com/columns/healthwise/healthwise-ear-aches-have-many-causes-deserve-a-close-look/article_2060c915-bf74-4c2e-b23d-85177c6d7d29.html
