Monday, May 15, 2017

Are Cotton Swabs Dangerous? - Lauren Rothert

A new study has shown that dozens of kids are being sent to the ER daily because of cotton swabs. Many doctors have said that using cotton swabs in your ears to clean out wax is a problem. Studies show that each year 12,500 kids under 18 years of age are treated for ear injuries related to cotton swabs. If you break that down, that is about 34 kids a day. Why are cotton swabs so bad for our ears? Well, cotton swabs can cause cuts in our ear canals, perforate our eardrums, and dislocate our hearing bones. All of these things can lead to dizziness, ringing, and hearing loss. Cleaning out your ears with a cotton swabs is actually doing the opposite of what you think it is. Our ear canals are self-cleaning, and the cotton swab actually pushes wax further into the canal closer to the eardrum until it reaches a point where the wax can no longer get out.

I was very surprised after reading this article. I personally do not use cotton swabs in my ears because I can't stand the feeling of something in my ear, so I guess I'm not hurting anything! I know many people that clean their ears, so I will be letting them in on this information.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/11/health/ear-cleaning-cotton-swab-injury-study/?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool

5 comments:

  1. I'm glad you did your article about this, because i told one of my friends who was using s cotton swab that it was bad for her and not to put it in her ear, and she didn't believe me. Also that's crazy that those little cotton swabs are effecting so many people's ears.

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  2. I think more people need to be made aware of this, it could help many.

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  3. I didn't know that cotton swabs could be such a problem. I hope someone takes action and this is resolved. Knowing this, people shouldn't use cotton swabs.

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  4. I've heard they're bad for ears, but I still don't see why they're still being produced/ used. People say they have other uses but you can just use like a tish or something.

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  5. At least this article brings some light on the subject. Hopefully less people will now stick cotton swabs in their ears and just clean their ears in the shower.

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