What causes earwax?

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QUESTION: What causes earwax?

ANSWER: Because the ear is such a critical organ – not only does it enable us to hear things, but it’s also key to our ability to walk (balance) – it has built-in mechanisms to keep it safe and clean, including the generation and storage of earwax.

There are glands in the skin of your outer ear canal which continuously create small amounts of wax. This wax works with the tiny hairs lining the canal to trap dust particles and other contaminants, keeping them from entering, and infecting, your inner ear. Your eardrums, and other inner ear parts, are highly sensitive and, therefore, susceptible to injury or infection.

Earwax is a key way of keeping your ear canal clean. It forms a thin coating that clings to the tiny hairs and lines the walls of the canal, and it’s specially formulated to fight, and dispose of, bacteria that might get trapped in there. It’s very natural for a bit of earwax to exit your ear opening from time to time, either by falling out, or getting rubbed or washed out.

If too much wax builds up and causes problems like difficulty hearing or earaches, it might be time for you to visit your primary care provider for treatment. People who think they have excessive earwax buildup sometimes use cotton swabs or Q-tips to try to solve the problem. Often, without realizing it, they simply push the wax deeper into the ear, exacerbating the problem.