28
Mar
Cerumen (a.k.a. earwax)
Back when I was younger, my ears used to get itchy very easily. The kind of itch that always feels like it is perched further inside as I struggle to dig at it with my pinky finger, and gets worse each time you swipe unsuccessfully at the most intense spot. Then, I would have to squirm around just to shake that feeling away.
After I told Mom about this, she bought a ear-wax-extracter/digger, and gave me a good ear cleaning every week. I suspect that doing this triggers off some hormones, because getting that itch scratched definitely felt good, as if a nagging plug in your brain has just been dug out. The enormous amount of cerumen dug out (she had a habit of showing it to me after getting the earwax out) made the experience all the more pleasurable. (Yes! You read this right. Pleasurable!)
Now that Mom doesn’t have time to give me my weekly ear digging, I’ve resorted to doing it myself. At first, I tried to do it everytime the ear itches, but after a while it tends to make the ear raw, and make the next session slightly painful (though still pleasurable). Since then, I would try to keep the itch in my ear for a few days, then take my time to gently scratch my ear canals. I don’t get much wax out this way, but it definitely still makes my ear tingle!
Update 1: I just found out that I am not alone in this. The Japanese are taking this to greater heights with commercial salons. Wikipedia has some very interesting information on ear wax, if you are a medicine student (that’s Mister Inconspicuous), or just a curious anthropologist.
Update 2: A doctor has pushed the red button on ear-cleaning on Boing Boing: you could lose your hearing if you don’t do it properly. Ear wax drops out on its own if you leave it well alone.
[tags]ear wax, cerumen[/tags]
on March 31st, 2006 at 7:23 pm
NOW I understand why my earwax post drew your attention!
An old boyfriend got his ears syringed out once, by a doctor. He came home raving about it. “You’ve got to try it!” he said. “I can HEAR!”
He must have had the OTHER sort of earwax. I’ve never had that problem.
(I have Asian earwax, apparently. The discovery that brown, gooey earwax even existed freaked me out. How did I get this far without even KNOWING there was a difference?)
on March 31st, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Maybe that is the cause of all your colds. You know? Like how the legend goes that dry wax is less effective in removing impurities in the ear?
I love the tingling sensation in my ears each time I scratch the ear canal: I wish I could fly over to Japan to visit the salons!