Ear Candling - is it safe?

Sometimes ago, my colleagues went for ear candling at a beauty salon situated at my office down stair. After the session, my colleagues claimed that their ear is much clean than before and the salon staff has even showed them the dark debris which was the dirt inside their ear. I was almost convinced by my colleagues to try it. Fortunately I did not do it.

Ear candling is actually not recommended by doctor. In fact, there was no scientific proof to support claims that ear candling provides medical benefits.

Ear candling is done by lighting one end of a hollow candle and placing the other end in the ear canal. The smoke that flows through the ear canal is supposed to create suction that will help remove the wax and dirt in the ear. However research said that the suction power from the candle is not possible to suct the wax. Since wax is sticky, the pressure needed to pull wax from the canal would have to be so powerful that it would rupture the eardrum in the process and candling procduce no vaccum, so how does it work?

The layer of wax has a protective role, it cleans and lubricates the ear and protect the ear canal from bacteria and fungus. The ear has a self-cleaning system that naturally removes ear wax, and actually most people do not require additional cleaning. The doctor said that ear candling could actually lead to complications like ear infections or compressed ear wax and when ear wax becomes compressed, it could lead to a blocked ear. Instead the doctor suggested to use over-the-counter ear drops which will make ear wax soft and allow it to flow out on its own.

The next time before we try anything new, it is good to do some research and the best is to wait and look for any review. It is never too late to try but it will be too late if anything negative happen.