Quiz: All About Earwax

The No. 1 job of that yellow, gooey stuff inside your ears is to keep them healthy. Earwax stops dust, dirt, bugs, and other crud from getting into your ear canal. It also keeps your ears from itching and protects them from infection.

Put down the swab -- or anything else. Pointy objects can puncture your eardrum and damage the small bones inside your ear. Plus, cotton swabs might actually push the wax farther in, where it can harden and cause pain and hearing problems.

The sight of earwax may gross you out, but here’s the truth: Earwax has nothing to do with cleanliness. So resist the urge to do something about it unless it affects your hearing or is linked to ear pain. These could be signs of infection or other issues, so you should call your doctor.

The outer third of your ear canal is a 3-centimeter tunnel. The skin in it has special glands that make earwax.

Like some ovens, your ear canals are self-cleaning. Every time you chew or move your jaw, you’re helping move old earwax from your ear canal to your ear opening. The wax then dries and falls out.

Putting anything inside your ear = bad idea. Putting a lit candle inside your ear = worse idea. With ear candling, you stick a hollow cone soaked in beeswax or paraffin in your ear and light the other end. The heat is supposed to draw out wax, but there’s no proof that it works, and it’s dangerous. People using ear candles have burned themselves, blocked their ear canals with candle wax, and punctured their eardrums.

If you feel like you have too much earwax, try ear drops, mineral oil, saline solution, olive oil, or hydrogen peroxide inside your ear. These will help dissolve the wax or soften it. Mix hydrogen peroxide and water equally, and put 5 drops into your ear.Lie on your side and let the solution soak in. If this doesn’t work, check with your doctor. They have special instruments that can help remove earwax.

Eczema can make your skin dry and flaky, and that can make your earwax hard. Wax that’s been in your ear for a long time or that picks up a lot of gunk also can get hard and dry. Your body also makes less oil as you get older, so that might affect earwax, too. All this is more likely to block your ear canal. If you have a problem with hard earwax, you might want to see your doctor every 6 to 12 months for a checkup.

East Asians’ earwax is much more likely to be dry and flaky instead of wet and sticky. That’s because  they have a slightly different gene that helps define your type of earwax.

Earwax is made of an oily substance called sebum and dead skin cells. It also mixes with loose ear hairs. 

If your ears are extra hairy, the hair can trap wax and make it harder to push out. Eczema causes dry and flaky skin. This can lead to more wax in your ear. Hearing aids and narrow ear canals can also cause buildup.

When earwax builds up, it causes what’s called conductive hearing loss. That’s when sound waves can’t make it to your inner ear. But it’s treatable -- your doctor can remove the extra earwax.