Talk:Earwax
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Earwax appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the New articles column on 10 January 2004. |
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Earwax has been listed as a good article under the good-article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do. |
Why is this not at earwax? Titles should be at the most common name, and I don't hesitate to assert that earwax is much more common than cerumen? It's a great article, though... Kudos to whoever wrote it.Tuf-Kat 18:50, Jan 10, 2004 (UTC)
I had read that one of the functions of earwax is to prevent insects from nesting in the ears. (They get stuck in the wax, and eventually ejected.) Is this correct? The article hints at it ("...also provides a degree of protection from... insects.") but does not go into detail. -- Dominus 15:05, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Besides the technical proceedure, there are a couple of old-fashioned ways of removing earwax which might be worth mentioning. One is to put olive oil in the ear, let it sit long enough to loosen the wax, then squirt out the olive oil with warm water. My girlfriend performed this proceedure on me a couple years ago and it worked very well. My hearing improved dramatically.
The other method involves specially made paper and wax tubes and burning, but that's a little more expensive and a little more dangerous. -- 64.81.175.9 17:13, 9 May 2004 (UTC)
- And also ineffective - [1] 16:43, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
What about basic non-instrumental removal such as after taking a shower or swim, placing your finger in your ear rotating downwards and pulling? It creates a tiny vacum and pulls some of the cerumen out, if you repeat it, you should be remove it safely and slowely? -- Sepht 17:15, 4 June 2005 (UTC)
- Thank you for your suggestion! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make whatever changes you feel are needed. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. You don't even need to log in! (Although there are some reasons why you might like to…) The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. JFW | T@lk 23:45, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I am feeling so PROUD to be having such an intulectualy inspiring disscussion about "earwax".
- As an encyclopedia, we need an article on earwax. If this does not inspire you, there are 1,491,379 (minus one, then) articles that may. JFW | T@lk 23:34, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)
No mention in the article of how disgusting it tastes. I think this important fact should be included! Graham 03:42, 23 August 2005 (UTC)
Contents |
[edit] Earwax: Wax or not?
Is Earwax really wax? I came to Wikipedia to find out after reading about wax as rocket fuel.. --66.68.138.69 02:29, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
You bet it is! "First of all, it's not at all unusual that we would secrete a wax. What's the difference between an oil, a fat, and a wax? Nothing but the melting point. All are esters (the products of condensation reactions between carboxylic acids and alcohols) with an aliphatic chain of carbon molecules. The length of the chain determines the volatility of the molecule; short chains are more fluid, long chains more solid. Something like olive oil will have shorter chains than something like beeswax, but all are fundamentally similar. They are all classified as lipids. So earwax isn't that unusual—it's a compound on a continuum of perfectly normal lipid products produced by cells." <http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/that_revolting_article_about_earwax_and_smegma/P50/> <http://www.lipidlibrary.co.uk/Lipids/waxes/index.htm>
[edit] Removal section
I posted up a part about how peroxide dissolves earwax in the ear but it was taken down. My mother performed this method on me as a child and I have done it ever since to clean out my ears if they are especially blocked up. It works surprisingly well.
- Well, that would qualify as original research, unless you have a reference. Furthermore, I very much doubt you poured pure hydrogen peroxide into your ears. http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/hearing/wax2.html states "Hydrogen peroxide is present for the mechanical effect -- it does not dissolve ear wax (Burkhart et al, 2000)." AxelBoldt 14:24, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
The word dissolve [2] has more than one meaning. It can mean "to cause to pass into solution", i.e. the action of a solvent. It can also mean "to break up or disperse". The Burkhart reference does not deny the efficacy of peroxide for earwax removal; it only states that it is a mechanical effect, a byproduct rather than a direct effect of the chemical reaction itself.
The following source outlines the efficacy of peroxide and various earwax removal agents: [3]
- Drops made of water alone have been demonstrated to be more effective in clearing earwax than have olive oil4 and various ear drop preparations, but not more effective than the combination of hydrogen peroxide and glycerol.2 . . .
- Hydrogen peroxide is common in many ear drop preparations for cleaning wax. It is usually mixed with acetic acid (vinegar)12 or urea and glycerol, or it comes as a 3% solution.11 The urea in this preparation acts as a keratolytic agent, easing dislodgment of cerumen stuck to the ear canal. Mixed with glycerin, the peroxide gets into the cerumen, and the expanding oxygen bubbles in the bulk of cerumen causes its disintegration. The mixture of urea with peroxide and glycerol has been demonstrated to be superior to oil mixed with chlorobutenile and chlorobenzene.22 Wilson and Fahmy recommend it as the combination of choice for at-home use for a couple of days.22,25 However, the combination is used less than other commercial preparations because of its high cost.5 There is also a risk to consider: A high peroxide concentration causes local burn.
I recommend this source for expanding the section about earwax removal agents. --Dforest 15:41, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
- I have expanded the removal section, but have not incorporated that source. Feel free to do so, though, or to add that source to the external links section - Gobeirne 19:28, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
My ENT used and recommended a preparation that contained diluted preparation containing hydrogen peroxide when he had to clean out my ears. This bit needs a closer look. Bdelisle 08:48, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
what about expanding on the 'curette' method of removing earwax. I think it used to be on here, but it seems to have dissapeared... the most common method of this is simply the hair pin (the thin black one; the ear wax is caught in loop) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 220.237.5.13 (talk • contribs) .
[edit] Ear hair?
Here's Earwax. There's Nasal hair. But where's Ear hair? Ewlyahoocom 15:23, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Neural or Epithelial control
Is earwax secretion neurally mediated, or locally mediated by the cartilaginous portion of the ear canal? That is, in cases of excessive cerumen is the overproduction likely to be caused by an abnormal neural activity, or due to abnormal epithelial transport? Are there any cases where excessive cerumen production is treated by blocking the neural activity in the ear canal? --130.95.34.213 02:03, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Pictures of dry earwax
Are there any pictures of dry-type earwax?
- hm. I (photographer of the wet-type earwax on the article) have dry-type earwax... I would like to photograph it, but it is not very visible (it's nearly clear in small amounts), and I produce very little of it... which I think is typical for dry-type folks. A similar picture of it on a swab is probably not going to work. --Gmaxwell 00:15, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
- I'd like to see it too; before reading this article I thought all earwax was yellow and sticky. Maybe it would show up better on a black surface? —Keenan Pepper 23:22, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
Who's the sick f*** who took a pic of their earwax on a swab? Ewwww. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.165.46.78 (talk • contribs) .
- What did you expect for an article about earwax? Would you rather there be no picture? It's not as bad as Image:Meconium.jpg anyway. —Keenan Pepper 23:22, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Headphones and earwax
I heard somewhere that listening to music on headphones very often increases earwax production. I came to this article to see more info on it, but I don't see anything. More specifically, I was wondering if plain old loud music (like a concert) can plug up your ears with ear wax. It could just be my imagination, because the fuzzy feeling in my ears is similar to when it's plugged up. Hmm. Nuggit 16:54, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
- You may want to look at noise health effects, and specifically a concert would likely induce temporary tinnitus. (I'm an engineer, not a doctor, just an educated guess.) — RevRagnarok Talk Contrib 18:29, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Whales
Yep, I thought it odd too. Found the ref I added to the aricle, and this one from the Japanese Embassy in South Africa. — RevRagnarok Talk Contrib 18:08, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Lubrication?
Earwax for lubrication??? Of what - sound waves? ;-) --Janke | Talk 17:47, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] q tip
this artical says :It is generally advised not to use cotton swabs (Q-Tips or cotton buds) as these will likely push the wax further down the ear canal and, if used carelessly, perforate the eardrum or worse. Cotton swabs should be used only to clean the external ear:
Then if this is true why is there a picture of ear wax on a q tip dosen't this conterdict itslef68.48.5.139 23:37, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] thanx
Thanks for that descriptive and graphic picture. 67.185.99.246 02:22, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
