People use most bathroom supplies as intended. Tissues are for blowing your nose, and toothpaste is for brushing your teeth. However, there is one common item that most people use incorrectly: cotton swabs.
You can use a cotton swab to apply and remove makeup and use it around the house for various purposes (e.g., arts and crafts projects, cleaning dirt from hard-to-reach areas, etc.). Unfortunately, their most common use has evolved over the years; many people now utilize cotton swabs to clean their ear canals and remove earwax. Hearing care providers consider this a recipe for trouble.
When people use cotton swabs to clean the ears, serious injuries can occur. Doing so can damage the eardrum, and repeated use increases the risk of causing an ear infection or tinnitus.
Most earwax is actually beneficial to ear functionality. It is a normal, natural protective coating for the sensitive skin of the ear canal. A canal coated with earwax will repel water and help prevent external ear infections. When you remove earwax with a cotton swab, it leaves the ear vulnerable. In addition, regularly using cotton swabs to clear earwax will push the wax further back into your ear than it is supposed to go.
While cotton swabs are useful in many applications, avoid the temptation to use them to clean the sensitive ear canal.