Will frequently removing earwax cause cancer in babies? Do you still dare to pay for it if the consequences are so serious?

Today I sent my classmate Zhe to kindergarten. When I came out to change my shoes, I saw an old man removing ear wax from a baby about three years old. He used an ordinary ear pick. Knowing that I might get a free meal in exchange, I still sat over and called \”Auntie\” after the old man finished paying. She raised her head, looked at me defensively and asked, \”What are you doing?\” I said, \”Auntie, you just removed the child\’s earwax, it was quite dangerous.\” She was a little unhappy: \”What\’s the danger? The child is not even a month old. I just took it out like this, it’s so clean, I don’t want to see the greasy scratches in the child’s ears.” If I continued, I was afraid there would be a risk of quarrel, so I shut up, went home and wrote this article, Let more people know how harmful it is to use toothpicks, cotton swabs, ear picks and other instruments to remove baby\’s earwax, and be sure to remove it until it is completely clean. What is earwax? Earwax, medically called \”cerumen\”, is a substance secreted by the cerumen glands on the skin of the external auditory canal of the human body. In babies, the cerumen glands secrete vigorously, often forming dark, yellowish-brown, and very sticky \”earwax\” in the external auditory canal. Why can\’t you remove your baby\’s earwax more often? According to Taiwanese media reports, a 16-year-old girl in Taipei City usually liked to lie on the bed and eat snacks while picking out her ears. Afterwards, her ears were itchy. When she went to the doctor, she found dozens of ants in her ears! So, earwax is really something that can be picked out casually! Baby\’s earwax can be discharged automatically – under normal circumstances, baby\’s earwax is automatically discharged when the baby talks, eats or yawns. The more earwax you dig out, the more earwax you pick out – Frequent removal of earwax for your baby will irritate the skin of the external auditory canal. Due to the lack of \”cerumen\” and oil, the baby\’s body will send out signals again and again to secrete \”oily earwax\” more frequently. Causes inflammation of the external auditory canal – the baby\’s external auditory canal is far from mature and is mostly flat and slit-shaped. The skin inside the ear is very delicate, with little subcutaneous tissue and poor blood circulation. Frequent removal of earwax and improper force can easily cause external auditory canal damage and infection, leading to external auditory canal boils. Swelling, inflammation, ulceration, and in severe cases may rupture the eardrum and damage the baby\’s hearing. According to statistics, more than 85% of children with clinical external ear canal infections have the habit of picking their ears or are infected directly due to injuries caused by ear picking. Induces cancer – Clinicians have found that frequent removal of earwax will cause the skin of the external auditory canal to be frequently irritated and form papillomas of the external auditory canal. It itself is benign, but it easily relapses after removal. After multiple recurrences, it is likely to transform into cancer, posing a threat to life. The benefits of baby earwax are to protect the ear canal and auricle and prevent the invasion of small bugs – earwax is a natural barrier. It can not only prevent dust in the air from invading the baby\’s ear canal, but also adhere to the exfoliated cells produced by local skin metabolism. It can use unique smell and taste to prevent ants, mosquitoes, etc. from getting into the ears. Earwax can kill bacteria – Earwax is rich in fatty acids and forms an acidic film on the surface of the ear canal skin, which can mildly kill bacteria. Natural \”muffler\” to protect the eardrum – the sound waves are very strong during thunder, explosions, cannons, and car horns, and the baby\’s eardrum will be violently shaken, which can easily lead to damage and hearing loss. Earwax can effectively reduce the vicious impact of sound waves and protect the eardrum. Prevent ear infections – earwax is greasy and can effectively prevent water intrusionenter. For example, when the baby takes a bath or overflows milk, earwax can keep the moisture out and prevent the occurrence of infectious diseases such as otitis externa and otitis media. How to correctly clean baby’s earwax 1. Under normal circumstances, baby’s earwax is clearly visible and very soft. At this time, you can find a piece of soft gauze, wet it and roll it into a strip, then slowly put it into the baby\’s ear and turn it around to achieve the purpose of cleaning. Before classmate Zhe was half a year old, his movements were relatively small, so I used this method more often. 2. Every time Mr. Zhe takes a bath, I clean his auricles and the area 0.5 cm away from the ear holes. His auricles and the outside of the ear canal are very clean. 3. Prepare a sanitary tampon ball, dip it in ear drops (3% sodium bicarbonate or baking soda solution), put it into the baby\’s ears while he is sleeping, turn the cotton ball around 2 hours and then take it out, you can bring out most of the earwax. . 4. If the earwax is hard, I will soften it with sesame oil or Vaseline first, and then use a thin cotton swab specially designed for children to remove the earwax outside the ear canal. You can also put one or two drops of ear drops, and after a few minutes, use a thin cotton swab specially designed for children to clean the ear canal. 5. If the baby secretes too much earwax and does not pay much attention to superficial cleaning, it can easily cause obstruction of the external auditory canal. If the baby does not pay attention to the entry of water when bathing, it can easily cause inflammation of the ear canal. However, do not use cotton swabs or sharp objects to clean the earwax located in the inner part of the baby\’s ear canal. The reason is that the baby\’s ear canal is much shorter than that of adults, making it difficult to control safely. It is best to ask a pediatrician to clean the baby\’s ear canal. There was a time when classmate Zhe was particularly disgusted with us touching his ears. As a result, he did not clean the pinna and the outer part of the ear canal for nearly two months. As a result, the earwax hardened and he started to itch again. We went to the hospital and asked the pediatrician to clean it up. It was just that, and the cleaning fee was 30 yuan per ear! Text | Yan Han’s mother