I use cotton buds far too often.. Tell us what the doctor says

Dang really sorry man I hope you feel better.

Ouch, I cringed reading that even after I saw it coming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ears are interesting, unlike nearly all our other sensory organs (skin, tongue, nose, eyes) they can't heal. Well sure parts of them can, such as the surface, and to a lesser extent, the eardrum. But the cilia (tiny hairs) are one of the few things in your body that don't regenerate(and can't be fixed by medicine). You have cilia in two key places in your ear: you ear canal and your cochlea.

 

 

 

The latter is a spiral tube that is the heart of you ear. It picks up the motion of the eardrum and inside it is a liquid and tons of cilia, or microscopic hairs. The inner liquid sways with the vibrational motion of the ear and the cilia pick up this motion of the liqiuid and relay it to neves that go the the brain. Point of me telling you this is loud music makes your cochlea move violently and your cilia literally get ripped from their roots. You can't feel this but after each loud session of bass or iPod jam out session you are lossing thousands of these hairs that don't grow back. Your hearing worsens everyday, not only are things quieter but you soon loose the ability to hear high frequencies like the white noise of a TV. Anyway, point of me witting this, is guys, keep that in mind and try to restrain yourself a little bit when jamming out in the car ;). This wasn't a problem in the past, but with MP3 players and quality speakers teenagers are loosing their hearing at an extraordinary rate that they will realize when they turn 30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow that was kinda a tangent. Anyway cilia are also found in your ear canal. They clean your ears for you. They act like a conveyor belt and move all your ear wax to outside your ears, so you don't need to use cotton or anything... problem is, after using cotton for a few years you scrape the inside of your ear and with that you loose all your cilia, so once you start manually cleaning your ears, you have to for the rest of your life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too bad I didn't tell you that sooner huh? Lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My master, the above poster, beat me well to the below

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The actual tiny little white hairs in ear drums wont grow back - but i know nothing of any other part

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was always under the impression eardrums were protected by a membrane of skin, whatever the cartoons tried to lead you to believe. Are you sure you didn't just damage around the ear? Which i suppose is still awful, because it's so sensitive. I get woozy at accidentally pushing wax deeper in my canal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hydrogen Peroxide dissolves the wax, so use that, then rise out with water, and it leaks out. Alternatively, pay $15 dollars for a tiny kit like that at the pharmacy, but it's the same thing

I've read in a couple books what my dad(doctor for over 30 years) told me. You aren't suppose to stick anything bigger then your elbow in your ear, lol unless your professionally trained(ear doctor, etc.). That means don't clean your ears with those cotton things or pick them with your fingers or anything else, and DO NOT try to stick your elbow in your head! lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And similia to the posts above, you should even use the iPod earphones or anything to stick in your ears, it effects you later on in life. This is why I listen to music at a normal volume, no more then 30min and never in my ears and I have perfect hearing.

I've read in a couple books what my dad(doctor for over 30 years) told me. You aren't suppose to stick anything bigger then your elbow in your ear, lol unless your professionally trained(ear doctor, etc.). That means don't clean your ears with those cotton things or pick them with your fingers or anything else, and DO NOT try to stick your elbow in your head! lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good thing I didn't already say EXACTLY THE SAME THING a few posts ago.

Ouch! :cry:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have my pity, I can feel my ears hurt right now just from reading that...

I believe the problem should not to be put upon the item, but upon yourself. You should have known not to leave something like that in your ear, it can cause damage, your conscience should have forseen this, aswell as common sense. :|

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though, I've heard one of those wax candle things work very good.... :XD:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes this is your fault. Take responsibility for your actions and stop blaming someone else, anything else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty much your foolish mistake that could be costly... Thats why I stay IN the same place when I clean my ears, just in case. :uhh:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good idea to completely avoid that accident. This should be pretty basic, just like don't run while you're carrying scissors or a knife. Of course if you run and stab yourself in the heart somehow, then you should've listened.

I know I for one don't use them to remove wax; I use them to scratch the inside of my ears when they're itchy. Which, thinking about it, may be because of wax, but considering how often I do this I'd guess that it isn't.

Crikey, ouch, that's gotta hurt.

Doctor said i've damaged the outer part of my internal ear (aka around the ear drum but not the drum itself) so i'm fine, and to clean it out using cotton wool and don't worry about it...guess I got lucky because it could've been much worse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the subject of them growing back, the ear drum can actually heal itself quite well, just not all the time like if we cut our arm over and over again. As trapical mentioned, the 20,000 white hairs in your ear each respond to a different frequency, and they DO have the ability to grow back - however, many grow back deformed and out of shape (and therefore useless as they're so minutely different from each other) or just not at all depending on the damage. Once you start losing these, you start losing your hearing :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A friend of mine blew out one of his ear drums due to acoustic shock trauma (a loud unexpected sound right next to the eardrum, like an explosion) and was able to close his mouth and hold his nose, then whistle through his ear drum apparently, hahah.

 

 

 

But a few weeks later his hearing was better and he couldn't do it anymore. What can happen, however, is that the skin on the eardrum is often weaker than it originally was, and prolonged exposure to excessive sound levels can result in tiny holes in the ear drum slowly opening up, and this isn't repairable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And to all the people posting cocky replies telling me i'm apparently an idiot for one tiny mistake, it was just a warning to what could happen.

Reading this topic just makes me cringe.

And to all the people posting cocky replies telling me i'm apparently an idiot for one tiny mistake, it was just a warning to what could happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually on boxes of Q-tips I see, they all have the "Do not insert in ear canal!" warning, which I think is so ppl can't sue em.

Yeah I know it says that, but I bet most people who buy them buy them for that reason. I just don't appreciate being talked to like i'm a complete cretin because I made one mistake first thing morning ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâì_ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâì

It feels like my own ear is bleeding :(

The old saying goes "never put something in your ear smaller than your elbow". This serves two points, 1: You won't ever put anything in your ear 2: You look like an idiot trying to get your elbow up to your ear.

Better yet... be careful when cleaning your ears with cotton q-tip, don't do such a thing while under the influence.

The old saying goes "never put something in your ear smaller than your elbow". This serves two points, 1: You won't ever put anything in your ear 2: You look like an idiot trying to get your elbow up to your ear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good god:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The old saying goes "never put something in your ear smaller than your elbow". This serves two points, 1: You won't ever put anything in your ear 2: You look like an idiot trying to get your elbow up to your ear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You aren't suppose to stick anything bigger then your elbow in your ear, lol unless your professionally trained(ear doctor, etc.). That means don't clean your ears with those cotton things or pick them with your fingers or anything else, and DO NOT try to stick your elbow in your head! lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You aren't suppose to stick anything bigger then your elbow in your ear, lol unless your professionally trained(ear doctor, etc.). That means don't clean your ears with those cotton things or pick them with your fingers or anything else, and DO NOT try to stick your elbow in your head! lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good thing I didn't already say EXACTLY THE SAME THING a few posts ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does no one bother reading anything other than the first post?

I think there's an old saying... never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear... i mean c'mon... you'd look pretty stupid trying to fit your elbow in your ear... right?

Yeah that has happened to me when I was around 5-7 years old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pushed it too far and it bled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Didn't leave any lasting damages to be though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although now I have my iPod on 75% max volume most of the time, and I probably can't tell the difference anymore. :lol:

I do it anyway, I think im old enough not to shove it in my canal, and ear-wax is gross. I know of a lot of people doing it and ive never known someone whos gotten injured from it.

Actually I just did it to irritate indy500fan because his statement made towards fake made me laugh. I suppose I just got greedy and wanted him to say something witty to me :lol:

Just remember two things when cleaning your ear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1) Water works fine

 

 

 

2) Don't push anything too far in or move around.

^^Well, I moved a cotton bud a bit around about a year ago.

 

 

 

Suddenly it my ear was hurting horribly for a minute. :uhh: Luckily I can still here fine. :ohnoes:

Makes sense, I used to listen to loud music, now I have a lot of earwax.