Sunday, March 22, 2009

Do ear candles work?

Here is what using an ear candle looks like:


Here is a video which claims to bust the ear candle myth:

After watching these youtube videos I looked at other websites to see what they had to say:

Wikipedia 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_candling gives several references to studies done in the 90's. These studies found that using an ear candle does not remove earwax. 

Quackwack http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/candling.html is a sight that tries to help people make intelligent decisions about their health. This page not only says that using an ear candle does not work, it also gives a story about a woman burning a hole in her eardrum. 

About.com http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/govtregulation/a/EarCandle.htmalso states that using an ear candle does not produce a vacuum affect, which is what is supposed to happen. 

After looking at these three sites, and also watching the videos above, I think that using an ear candle is a waste of time and money. 

The American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation have put out some guidelines for taking care of ear wax. These can be seen here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94855186
on NPR official site. 



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