Know What is Ear Cerumen?

Friends of Hermina, do you know that cerumen or earwax is not just earwax, but cerumen has benefits for our ears. Cerumen is the product of the fat glands and sweat glands in the front third of our ears. Cerumen has various consistencies, some are soft, sticky, dry or hard, the color varies from yellow to brown.

Cerumen functions as a filter/cleaner for the ear canal. Cerumen will catch particles or foreign bodies in micro size so that they do not go deeper, which then naturally these particles will be removed with the help of the movement of the lower jaw when chewing. Cerumen also functions as a moisturizer/lubrication which can prevent the ear canal from becoming dry and itchy. This lubricating substance is obtained from the high fat content of the sweat gland production. Another function of cerumen is as an antibacterial and antifungal. The presence of lysozyme in cerumen and low pH will create a difficult environment for the growth of germs. And lastly, cerumen has a distinctive odor that insects don't like, thereby preventing insects from entering the ear canal.

  Under normal conditions, cerumen will not cause disturbances or complaints. Basically, the ear has a self-cleaning method that is assisted by the movement of the jaw when chewing, and is rinsed with water when bathing. Hermina friends don't need to dig around using a cotton bud (cotton stick) or ear candling, this scraping action can actually cause the ears to become irritated or swollen and even get an infection, and can injure the eardrums.

How to clean your ears, Hermina's best friend, just dry the outside of your ear with a dry towel or dry tissue because usually wax can move by itself from the ear canal to the outside of the ear. However, sometimes the cerumen cannot get out and instead settles in the ear canal.

 Under certain conditions, cerumen can cause interference, namely when there is excessive buildup of cerumen resulting in a blockage in the ear canal which is known as obstructed cerumen or impacted cerumen. This situation can cause complaints of ringing in the ears, discomfort in the ears and even pain and also lack of hearing.

     If Hermina's best friend likes to listen to music using earphones, it's better to avoid using it for a long time to maintain healthy ears. Using earphones is also very risky to push the cerumen inside, then the cerumen becomes hard and difficult to clean.

Other factors that cause wax buildup in the ear canal are the varied shape of the ear canal, especially in this case a narrow ear canal, excessive wax production, carrying out the act of picking at the ear so that the wax is pushed to the inside of the ear canal and then accumulation occurs.

  If wax buildup occurs, cleaning can be done with a cotton twister. In the case of a hard type of cerumen, the wax will be collected by hooking it, or you can use wax softener ear drops such as phenol glycerol to soften it and then cleaning/spraying (irrigating) the cerumen in the ear canal.

Each ear has a different shape and consistency of wax. For a safe cleaning of cerumen in the ear canal, it should be done by a doctor/ENT specialist so that unwanted complications do not occur.

If Hermina's best friend has ear complaints, it's a good idea to first consult an ENT doctor at Hermina Balikpapan Hospital. Let's take care of ear health by avoiding picking your ears with a cotton bud and avoiding using earphones for too long. Greetings healthy.