-
Asked by caseyf to Angela, Gabriele, Karen, Maria, Shane on 15 Nov 2013.
-
Karen McCarthy answered on 15 Nov 2013:
Earwax, or cerumen as it’s technically called, helps protect your sensitive ear. It acts like a water repellant to stop your ear canal getting wet for example. It looks different for most people, depending on what environment your ears can be exposed to! But you need to carefully clean your ears regularly – too much ear wax can block your ears and allow bacterial infection!
-
-
Angela Stevenson answered on 15 Nov 2013:
Hi Casey! It’s a substance that your ear secretes in the passage of the outer ear (the area between the fleshy part of the ear on the outside of your head). Most people’s ears produce earwax all the time, so the canal always has enough wax in it. It does this to protect and moisturize the skin of ear canal to prevent dry, itchy ears. It also contains special chemicals that fight off infections from bad bacteria that could hurt the skin inside the ear. It’s essentially a shield between the outside world and the eardrum… when dust, dirt, and other things enter your ear, earwax traps them so they can’t travel any further. Earwax would make a good superhero figure hey 😉 hehe! Great question!
-
Shane Mc Guinness answered on 20 Nov 2013:
Great question Casey. The guys have covered it well. However, I was always told by my doctor never to put anything bigger than my elbow into my ear! In other words, don’t put anything in there, including swabs to try and get wax out. It’s serving the purpose of cleaning your ears and will eventually fall out itself. Pretty disgusting if it falls into someone’s dinner though, so maybe it’s best in the modern world to take it out before that happens!
Comments