Doctor explains why cleaning your ears with cotton bud is a massive 'no-no'

We all know using a cotton bud to clean our ears can feel oddly satisfying.

But according to Dr Suraj Kukadia, better known as Dr Sooj, this is actually something we should avoid. Speaking to his 123,000 TikTok followers on the account @doctorsooj, he asked: "How can you clean your ears routinely in a safe way?"

He added: "The answer to this is very, very simple - you do not. Don't go inside your ears, don't put anything smaller than your elbows in your ears or in your nose."

A build-up of earwax might be annoying, but the GP wants you to know wax is there for a reason; it acts as a protective barrier capturing germs, dust, dirt and other unwelcome guests. He likens earwax to a fly-trap, safeguarding the crucial eardrum essential for hearing.

Dr Sooj warns that inserting anything, from cotton buds to tissue or hairpins, into your ears could force wax against the eardrums, potentially bursting them. This can cause a slew of nasty problems such as puss and blood discharge, hearing loss, dizziness, and excruciating earaches.

While most issues improve within two months, some cases require antibiotics.

Additionally, cleaning your ears too aggressively could lead to tinnitus, a condition marked by bothersome noises that seem to emanate from within the ears themselves, making it difficult to find peace and quiet.

Dr Sooj advised: "So, what we recommend is, don't touch your ears. You can clean the outside of your ears, that's fine, but don't do inside the canal.

"When ear wax does get impacted against the eardrum, it can cause things like tinnitus or ringing in your ears. It can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting and even muffled or reduced hearing.

"If you have any problems, just go and see your doctor because we can very easily check the inside of your ear, tell you if there's wax there, give you some simple steps to try and resolve it, if it is. Or, give you other treatment in case there's a different reason that you're having some symptoms."