A cotton swab and rubbing alcohol work wonders, but don’t ever submerge the buds in the liquid. After the brushing, I use a cotton swab with rubbing alcohol to clean around the grill and the earbud itself. It helps to sterilize the surface, and the alcohol helps to remove remaining ear wax.

Aside from carrying dirt and bacteria, earbuds can also increase ear wax build-up. Since our ears are designed to clean themselves, wearing earbuds can trap the ear wax that is supposed to be carried out. Excessive wax build-up leads to impacted ear wax that can affect your hearing. Earbuds can rupture your eardrums.

Earwax production is often triggered by what hearing health care professionals call a contact stimulus. Objects like headphones, earbuds and even hearing aids that contact and rub the ears are the biggest culprits. By producing more earwax, your ears are trying to protect themselves from irritation or infection.

Light brown, orange or yellow earwax is healthy and normal. Children tend to have softer, lighter-colored earwax. White, flaky earwax indicates you lack a body-odor producing chemical. Dark-colored, sticky earwax indicates you should probably use deodorant.

The ear is self-cleaning. No routine maintenance is required. If you’re inserting swabs into your ears to remove earwax or prevent its buildup, think again. Earwax is produced within the ear canal and naturally migrates from deeper inside to outside.

Earwax, like many other bodily secretions, can show traces of certain toxins in the body such as heavy metals. But it’s an odd place to look and no more reliable than a simple blood test. There are also some rare metabolic disorders that affect earwax.

As Healthline reported earlier this year, studies have linked hearing loss with cognitive decline and dementia — which can be exacerbated by cerumen impaction. “If you become disconnected with loss of hearing, you’re not really building memories or retaining memories or exercising your brain.

Some people are prone to produce too much earwax. Still, excess wax doesn’t automatically lead to blockage. In fact, the most common cause of earwax blockage is at-home removal. Using cotton swabs, bobby pins, or other objects in your ear canal can also push wax deeper, creating a blockage.

Treatment for impacted earwax Often the earwax goes away on its own with time. If you have symptoms, you may have 1 or more treatments such as: Ear drops to soften the earwax.

In some cases, a hardened lump of wax can form in the canal, which can make it difficult to hear in that ear or even trap bacteria and cause an infection. If this happens, don’t stick anything inside the ear to try to remove the wax yourself. Doing so could cause permanent hearing damage.

A doctor will usually syringe your ear and then use tweezers to remove the excess earwax. This should only be performed by a medical professional. These are just a few of the methods to clean your ear safely. Be sure to always make sure you follow all the safety instructions.