why olive oil can soft earwax?

[hkstudent2]

why olive oil can soft earwax?

[EdEarl]

 

Wikipedia: earwax

 

Earwax consists of shed skin cells, hair, and the secretions of the ceruminous and sebaceous glands of the outside ear canal.[2] Major components of earwax are long chain fatty acids, both saturated and unsaturated, alcohols, squalene, and cholesterol.[2] Excess or compacted cerumen can press against the eardrum or block the outside ear canal or hearing aids, potentially causing hearing loss.

Fatty acids, too thick to flow, will dissolve in olive oil, and flow out of your ear, taking the other stuff with it.

[kisai]

Both are chains of long polysaturated and monosaturated fatty acids.

[John Cuthber]

Both are chains of long polysaturated and monosaturated fatty acids.

Both are chains of long polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids.

[kisai]

Urgh. Please pardon my mistakes.

[RuthlessOptimism]

You probably shouldn't use any food oils for this purpose. Its unlikely but possible for it to remain in your ear long enough to go rancid and cause a really nasty infection.

[StringJunky]

You probably shouldn't use any food oils for this purpose. Its unlikely but possible for it to remain in your ear long enough to go rancid and cause a really nasty infection.

From a UK NHS university site:

 

Treatment

Obviously your ears may already be blocked from bad practices or through essential use of ear defenders, hearing aids etc (we also realise that a few individuals do produce an unusual amount of wax).

The up-to-date way of clearing wax is simple olive oil (this can be any olive oil, available at chemists in dropper bottles or off the shelf oil, avoiding the ones with chillies and garlic soaked in!). Other “specialist drops” offer no advantage. You put a few drops in 2-4 times daily (as below). The most important time is before you go to bed. This needs to be done for about 2 weeks. Please make an appointment with the nurse at the end of these two weeks. You will be examined and she will determine whether its clear or needs syringing.

http://www.unhs.co.uk/unhs/your-health/health-advice/earwax.aspx

Edited May 14, 2016 by StringJunky

[John Cuthber]

You probably shouldn't use any food oils for this purpose. Its unlikely but possible for it to remain in your ear long enough to go rancid and cause a really nasty infection.

From a lion's point of view, your earwax is food.

 

More relevantly from the POV of lots of bacteria, it is food too. But oil's generally too dry to be degraded by bacteria- that's why it has along shelf life.

[RuthlessOptimism]

I still would not use food oils for this. I was speaking from personal experience, your citation is wrong.

[John Cuthber]

I still would not use food oils for this. I was speaking from personal experience, your citation is wrong.

Anecdote is not the same as data.

[StringJunky]

I still would not use food oils for this. I was speaking from personal experience, your citation is wrong.

That was from the UK's University of Nottingham National Health Service site.

 

 

Anecdote is not the same as data.

QFT. Is Olive oil hygroscopic to bacteria?

Edited May 14, 2016 by StringJunky

[EdEarl]

Mayo clinic says:

 

Your doctor can also flush out the wax using a water pick or a rubber-bulb syringe filled with warm water.

 

If earwax buildup is a recurring problem, your doctor may recommend that you use a wax-removal medication, such as carbamide peroxide (Debrox, Murine Earwax Removal System). Because these drops can irritate the delicate skin of the eardrum and ear canal, use them only as directed.

Warm water, rubber-bulb method seems best for home use to me, unless otherwise directed by a doctor. I'd boil the water before use, or use distilled water, but haven't done any of these, and don't plan to.

[RuthlessOptimism]

What is data but anecdotes that have been more carefully recorded. It doesn't really matter where the citation is from, in my case I ended up going to the hospital, and more than one doctor told me after this that olive oil in your ears is a bad idea.

[StringJunky]

What is data but anecdotes that have been more carefully recorded. It doesn't really matter where the citation is from, in my case I ended up going to the hospital, and more than one doctor told me after this that olive oil in your ears is a bad idea.

Nottingham is a teaching hospital! No treatment is perfect for everyone. A single anecdote is statistically meaningless.

 

Just because someone is a doctor doesn't mean that they are an expert in every field. The people that wrote that article are, in that field.

Edited May 14, 2016 by StringJunky

[RuthlessOptimism]

It doesn't matter if its statistically meaningless. My point is exactly what you stated, no treatment is perfect for everyone. I'm just saying that the possibility of ear infections is something you might want to take under advisement, especially if you are already prone to ear infections. Simply using filtered warm water is a much better option in my opinion.

[EdEarl]

Filtered city water may have chlorine and fluorine, which are harsh, and may have bacteria, which might not be good. Boiling after filtering will kill bacteria and minimize the chlorine and fluorine. Of course, filtering also removes the x-ines.

Edited May 14, 2016 by EdEarl

[John Cuthber]

What is data but anecdotes that have been more carefully recorded. It doesn't really matter where the citation is from, in my case I ended up going to the hospital, and more than one doctor told me after this that olive oil in your ears is a bad idea.

You are arguing "more than one doctor" - in one particular case- against a whole teaching hospital full (and the rest of the NHS guidance and international agreement

http://www.livestrong.com/article/117542-ear-wax-removal-home-remedy/

)- talking about the best treatment for the general population.

And you still need to get round the problem that the grease in your ears is almost identical, chemically to the olive oil with a couple of major exceptions. the oil doesn't contain much water or protein and is therefore a much less hospitable environment for bacteria than your ear was in the first place.

 

Any bacterium that can flourish in olive oil can do even better in earwax.

Filtered city water may have chlorine and fluorine,

No it won't.

[CharonY]

Olive oil is commonly sold as ear drops, it is often recommended by a number of health providers in several countries. The only warning that you will find is if the tympanic membrane is perforated, as there are no conclusive risk assessments available. There are currently no studies that have shown that the use of olive oil are actually harmful in any form (or more harmful than water, see e.g. Clegg et al. Health Technol Assess 2010 for a meta-analysis).

 

I am wondering whether doctors actually said that olive oil is bad, or self-application. The latter is sometimes an issue if one does not use proper applicator by jury rigs something to stuff in the ear canal. It should also be noted that some phenolic components in olive oil are suspected to have antibacterial functions. However, in cases of otitis externa it has not been shown to be more effective in clearing infections than water.

Edited May 15, 2016 by CharonY

[RuthlessOptimism]

I can only relate my personal experiences and advice given to me at the time by medical professionals. I am not an expert in chemistry or medicine.

However here is some food for thought. Lets say it is unlikely, but possible for people to end up in the situation I did and they do directly because of what they have read here. Where I live the advice taken from this thread could be interpreted as negligent advice and those involved in relaying it could be found liable via tort to the effected party. Now in this hypothetical situation there are large differences between, me, you, and actual healthcare professionals if you are not one.

 

The first is that in court we would be held to different levels of accountability for our advice. I being a layperson who is not an expert would be held to the standard of a layperson. On the other hand people who represent themselves as professionals or experts would be held to a higher level of accountability characteristic of the level of accountability of other professionals and experts in their field.

 

The second important difference is that unless you are a registered doctor you probably don’t have millions of dollars worth of liability insurance to protect you just in case something like this unlikely event occurred.

 

Whether what happened to me is unlikely to the point that it disagrees with established doctrines whatever you want to call it is a bit irrelevant, it happened. And so you might want to be a bit more careful about giving what could be interpreted as expert advice.

[CharonY]

You will note that no one here is claiming that based on personal personal knowledge (expert or not), but based on openly available advice from health providers. Should it turn out to be harmful at some point, however, I am pretty sure that the many olive oil ear drop manufacturer are likely to be on the line than someone providing a link to a hospital website...

 

Note that I get your point, though. If medical doctors told you that, it makes sense to accept the advice. However, in this case it has to be noted that research, other medical practitioners and to some degree FDA comments (not listed here) contradict it.

Edited May 16, 2016 by CharonY