In our daily maintenance, we will pay attention to our skin, eyes, lips …… but we tend to neglect the maintenance of our ears. In addition to the function of receiving external sound every day, there are various problems with the ears, such as random ear piercing that may cause scarring, random earwax digging that may harm the eardrum, not paying attention to clean ears that may form sebaceous cysts …… and so on. Chen Guangui, deputy chief physician of the Department of Otolaryngology at the Second Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, said that although we can’t even see our ears without looking in the mirror, we should not wait until there are problems with them before we start paying attention to them. It is no less important than several other facial organs, and proper care can make the ear serve us better. One of the ear care – daily cleaning Cleansing is a daily task for many people, but do you remember to give your ears a daily cleaning? Perhaps more people wash the back of their ears in passing when they wash their hair, and incidentally wipe their ears and other areas. Chen Guangui said that the cleaning of the ears should not be neglected, especially in the area where sebum secretion is strong and needs to be taken care of. Although the ears are thin, and there is also cartilage, which often makes people ignore the sebaceous secretion of the skin of the ears, especially those who have a strong oil secretion. After a busy day in the summer, your ears will feel oily when you touch them. If the ears are not cleaned for a long time, or if people with high oil secretion do not pay attention to cleaning their ears, it is easy to cause the pores to be blocked, which can lead to the formation of sebaceous cysts. Chen Guangui said that sebaceous cysts are not uncommon in clinical practice and occur more often on the back of the ear and below the ear. It starts as a small lump like a grain of rice, perhaps with some pain, and if not taken seriously, the sebaceous gland cystic epithelium is swollen by the gradually increasing contents and forms a retention cyst that must be operated on at first in the hospital. You do not need to over clean your ears, you can just use a towel to wipe your ears and the back of your ears where dirt is easily hidden when you clean your face normally. Ear care No. 2 – Do not pull out earwax at will Earwax is medically known as cerumen, and is often commonly referred to as earwax. When it becomes “shit”, it is waste. Therefore, in many people’s conception, earwax is a burden to the ear. Earwax removal is a daily routine like defecation. According to Chen Guangui, from the perspective of ear maintenance, earwax has a protective effect on the external ear canal, and earwax should not be taken out at will. Earwax is secreted by the cerumen glands in the outer ear canal, and it is usually dislodged naturally with the movement of the jaw joints in daily life, such as opening the mouth, yawning or chewing, and is eventually discharged from the ear canal, so it does not need to be pulled out artificially. If you pull out your ears, it is easy to harm the skin inside your ears and cause inflammation, but it is also easy to cause damage to the eardrum. So is earwax not something we need to worry about at all? Chen Guangui explains that the shape and amount of cerumen secretion is determined by each person’s genes. The earwax is a very strong secretion of cerumen, and it is difficult to discharge it on your own, causing itching or blockage in the ear. The correct way to handle it yourself is to soak a cotton swab in warm water and squeeze it dry slightly. There is a junction of skin outside the ear canal at the end of the year, so if you don’t feel any pain when the cotton swab is carefully inserted, but if you feel discomfort or pain, it means that it is deeper and it is best to stop cleaning. If there is still earwax inside, you need to find a professional doctor to remove it using professional instruments. It is worth mentioning that it is best to go to the hospital before going swimming to check if there is cerumen embolism, in case the cerumen rises after wet water and even causes inflammation. And since the cerumen is located deeper, this needs to be checked by professional instruments. Ear Care No. 3 – Ear piercing needs to be done carefully Nowadays, it is very common to have your ears pierced in order to wear earrings, and some people have several ears pierced at the same time. But did you know that ear piercing can leave scars and bumps? Did you know that the scar that grows beyond the surface of the skin can be even larger than the original wound, and can even grow into a huge scar? Chen Guangui introduced that many patients clinically have scars on their ears caused by ear piercing, especially those with scars, which are very difficult to heal, as these scars have to be surgically removed, and post-operative recovery may also form scars, so the recurrence rate is as high as 50%. In addition, if the earlobe is pierced, it is slightly better, while the cartilage of the ear is much more dangerous to pierce the ear. Because the auricle is mainly made up of cartilage, it has poorer blood circulation than the earlobe and is less resistant to bacteria, making it susceptible to infection. If a serious infection occurs, it may develop into septic chondritis and even lead to atrophy of the auricle. Therefore, you need to be cautious about whether or not to get your ears pierced and it is recommended to go to a regular hospital. Ear care four – headphones to be comfortable Whether listening to music or answering the phone, headphones have become a common tool in people’s lives. However, people often put the criteria for choosing headphones on the sound quality, especially earbud headphones. Chen Guangui said, everyone’s ear shape is different, and the size of the ear canal are different, if you feel uncomfortable when using in-ear headphones, it indicates that the design of the headphones is not suitable for your ears, has formed a pressure on the cartilage. And this is not “with more to get used to” can be solved, for the pairing of headphones and ears, the first contact, after fine-tuning to make it uncomfortable, it means that this in-ear headphones can not be used, otherwise the headphones long-term pressure on the cartilage of the ear canal, easy to cause cartilage damage and the formation of inflammation.