In life, we often see that some people like to take some things such as matchsticks, small hairpins and other things to pull out the ear wax when they have nothing to do, and said for comfort. In fact, there are many harmful effects, such as ear canal inflammation and hearing loss. Why is that? It turns out that the skin of the external ear canal is relatively thin, and the cartilaginous membrane is tightly connected, with little subcutaneous tissue and poor blood circulation. Earwax, medically called cerumen, is a secretion from the cerumen glands of the external ear canal, which has a protective effect on the skin of the external ear canal, but too much cerumen can block the external ear canal, affecting hearing and sometimes stimulating the external ear canal and making it itchy. Therefore, if you have too much earwax, you should pull it out. However, if you pull out your ears with improper force, it is most likely to cause damage and infection in the outer ear canal, resulting in boils, which can cause ear pain and, in severe cases, hearing loss. Frequent ear-pulling can also cause swelling of the cuticle of the outer ear canal, blocking the hair follicles and facilitating the growth of bacteria, leading to itchy and yellow water in the ear canal. Long-term chronic congestion of the outer ear canal skin also tends to stimulate cerumen secretion, resulting in more earwax. It is also easy to bring mold into the outer ear canal, which makes the ear canal itchy and unbearable. If the mold grows on the tympanic membrane, hearing loss and tinnitus can occur. The eardrum is a film about 0.1 mm thick, so if you use sharp tools to pull out your ears, you can accidentally puncture or even perforate the eardrum, which can cause deafness in severe cases. The correct way to deal with earwax is to use a cotton swab rolled in skim cotton to gently clean out the earwax. If the earwax is too much to pull out, you can go to the hospital and ask your doctor to handle it. Earwax” is also known as “ear cicada”, which is the medical name for earwax in the external ear canal. There are many sweat glands and sebaceous glands in the skin of the external ear canal, which constantly secrete liquid into the external ear canal. When more “ear cicadas” accumulate, they can cause itchy ears and blockage, so they should be pulled out. However, some people use fingernails, hairpins or even iron picks to pull out their ears, which can easily pierce the skin of the outer ear canal and cause inflammation, swelling and severe pain. Even if you are very careful when pulling out your ears, if you form a habit and pull out your ears frequently, it can cause hidden breaks that are hard to see with the naked eye and lead to infection. Bacterial infections in general will improve quickly with the use of effective anti-inflammatory medication, but if a mycobacterial infection is induced, the itching in the ear is intense and can make a person fidgety. In addition, if the eardrum is accidentally punctured, it can cause hearing loss or even otitis media, which may sometimes require surgery to restore hearing. Therefore, strictly speaking, you should not pull out your own ears. However, since “ear cicadas” are generated at a relatively fast rate, especially those with strong glandular secretion, commonly known as “oily ears”, it is too troublesome and impractical to go to the hospital specifically to pull out your ears. It is best to use a cotton swab and gently turn it in the outer ear canal with the ear facing downward, so that the cerumen can come out on its own. 2. Don’t form the habit of digging your ears too often, usually once a week or so. If you don’t dig your ears for a long time, cerumen embolism may form, which is difficult to remove by yourself, so you should go to the hospital and use special equipment to remove it. Generally speaking, earwax does not need to be removed manually, it will be discharged automatically with the jaw movement and the pushing action of sweat hairs on the skin when talking, eating or yawning. Regularly pulling out your ears can be harmful to your health, specifically in the following ways: 1. If the earwax is hard or too much, it is easy to scratch the skin and bacteria will take advantage of the opportunity to enter the wound and cause infection. Or, if you scratch your ear back and forth, the bacteria can be squeezed into the hair follicles and sebaceous ducts, causing inflammation and running water, or in severe cases, boils in the external ear canal. 2. Due to frequent stimulation of the skin of the external ear canal, the skin bruises, causing increased secretion of earwax and serious accumulation. In other words, the more earwax is pulled out, the more there is. 3. Frequent ear-pulling stimulates chronic inflammation of the tympanic membrane, which becomes red and thickens, and a small amount of pus flows out of the external ear canal.