Sticking a cotton bud down your ear and giving it a good old clean is one of the simple pleasures in life - but if you ask a doctor, it's one of the worst things you can do.
You might think it's a harmless way to maintain good hygiene inside your lugholes, however, medics warn that this actually does more harm than good.
Dr Suraj Kukadia, who is better known online as Dr Sooj, regularly shares videos on social media educating people on their health - such as the five signs that a mole could be cancerous and what that weird 'shooting pain' you might occasionally get in your bum is all about.
Advert
Now, the GP from Hertfordshire has moved onto discussing our ears and the dangers of shoving a cotton bud down them.
In a TikTok clip, he explained: "How do you clean your ears routinely in a safe way?
"The answer to this is very, very simple - you do not," Dr Sooj said. "Don't go inside your ears. Don't put anything smaller than your elbows in your ears or in your nose.
Advert
"The reason for this is that your ears are self-cleaning, earwax has a protective function. It helps to catch microorganisms, it helps to catch dirt and it's designed to protect your eardrum."
Dr Sooj said that some people can experience 'excessive wax production', but trying to get rid of it yourself is a bad idea.
The medic continued: "If you start shoving stuff into your ear to try and get it out - like Q tips or cotton buds - you're going to be inadvertently pushing that wax up against the eardrum.
"In really unfortunate cases, you might even burst your eardrum and that is a situation you do not want to be in. So, what we recommend is, you don't touch your ears."
As someone who has experienced a burst eardrum myself, I can confirm it's no walk in the park. Sheer agony might be the best way to describe it.
Advert
Anyway, Dr Sooj said that cleaning the outside of your ears is fine, but inside the canal is completely off limits.
Otherwise, it can cause some very unfortunate consequences.
He warned: "When earwax does get impacted against the eardrum, it can cause things like tinnitus or ringing in your ears.
"It can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting and even muffled or reduced hearing.
"If you have any problems, just go and see your doctor because we can very easily check the inside of your ears, tell you if some wax is there and give you some simple steps to try and resolve it if it is."
Advert
We know you've heard it all before, but just to hammer it home one more time - cotton buds are NOT for cleaning the inside of your ears.
Even Dr Sooj said so!
Olivia Burke