Most of us grew up with a box of cotton buds in the bathroom cupboard. A quick twist after a shower feels like good hygiene, and in Townsville, with our humidity, our swimming and our sand, the urge to have a dig is even stronger.
The trouble is that the feeling of a clean ear and an actually clean ear are two different things. Here’s what a cotton bud does inside the canal, why your ears don’t need the help, and what to do instead.
Your ears are designed to clean themselves
Ear wax isn’t dirt. It’s a mixture of oils and skin cells that traps dust and helps keep bacteria out of the canal — the ear’s own doormat.
Your ear canal also has a built-in conveyor belt: the skin lining it migrates slowly outwards, carrying wax with it, helped along by chewing and jaw movement. The wax reaches the opening, dries and flakes away.
That process only breaks down when something interferes with it. healthdirect lists cotton tips, hearing aids and ear plugs among the things that limit self-cleaning and encourage wax to build up.
Wax often sorts itself out: guidance from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners notes that in up to a third of cases, it clears within five days without treatment at all. Wax that isn’t causing symptoms doesn’t need removing.
What a cotton bud actually does
A cotton bud is firm enough to compact wax and wide enough to plug the canal as it goes in. The wax doesn’t come out on the cotton, it gets pushed inwards and packed against the eardrum, hardening into a plug that is far harder to shift than the wax you started with.
There are other risks. The canal’s skin is thin and easy to scratch, and a break in it is an opening for infection. Pushed in far enough, a bud can injure the eardrum, and cotton can shed and stay behind.
It isn’t rare either. An Australian study of 330 people presenting to two Victorian emergency departments with something stuck in the ear found cotton tips were the most common object in adult ears, and among the most common in children. The authors concluded that cotton tips, cotton wool and silicone ear plugs should be discouraged inside the canal.
So the irony is real. The habit people use to clear a blocked ear is one of the more common reasons ears end up blocked.
What to do instead
For the outer ear, a face washer is enough. Wipe the bowl of the ear and behind it when you shower, and leave the canal opening alone.
If the wax feels soft and your ear is a little muffled, olive oil or a cerumenolytic over several days gives the ear’s own cleaning a better chance. We also offer free checks to truly understand if your wax is healthy, or problematic. Skip the drops and see a professional if you have had a perforated eardrum, grommets or ear surgery, or if there is discharge or pain.
Two more habits to retire:
- Ear candles. Reviews of the evidence have found they don’t remove wax — the residue people see is candle wax — and reported injuries include burns, wax blocking the canal and eardrum perforation.
- Anything else that fits. Hairpins, keys, matchsticks and paperclip corners carry the same problem as a cotton bud, with sharper edges.
Questions we get asked a lot
Can I use a cotton bud on the outside of my ear only?
No — Cotton buds are for makeup only, as described on their packaging.
Will olive oil help if my ear feels blocked?
It can, if the blockage is wax. Australian guidance supports softening drops as a first step for wax that is causing symptoms. What drops can’t do is tell wax from anything else, which is why they aren’t the right choice if you’ve had a perforation, grommets or ear surgery.
How often should I have my ears professionally cleaned?
There’s no schedule that suits everyone, and most people never need it. Regular cleaning tends to help people whose wax reliably builds up: hearing aid wearers, people with narrow or unusually shaped canals, and frequent users of ear plugs or swimmers’ plugs. Symptoms, not the calendar, are the trigger.
Where to go next
If a blocked ear has stopped shifting on its own, microsuction removes the wax under direct vision — no water, and nothing touching the eardrum. At Clear Ears Townsville we use a specialist ear camera (a video otoscope), so you can watch on the screen as we work.
- Microsuction wax removal — what happens at an appointment, and how it differs from syringing.
- Impacted ear wax — the signs that wax has packed down and isn’t coming out by itself.
- Pricing — $110 standard, $75 for kids 4–14 and DVA card holders, with free follow-ups.
Book online at clearearstsv.com.au/book-now or call 07 4426 3602. No Wax, No Fee Guarantee: if there’s no ear wax to remove, you won’t be charged for the appointment