Ear wax question

insider · February 3, 2001, 3:08am

Does the consistency of ear wax have anything to do with the immune system? Soft ear wax lower immunity, hard lumpy ear wax higher immunity? Do Chinese have very solid ear wax as compared to others?

Qadgop_the_Mercotan · February 3, 2001, 3:14am

I’m not aware of ear wax consistency having anything to do with the immune system, but I know there has been a weak correlation in the past with wet ear wax and some esoteric disease I learned in medical school but which I’ve never seen and which I cannot now recall. I doubt that helps you.

Anecdotally though, having looked in THOUSANDS of ears, I can state that I do see more dry, flaky ear wax in people of asian ancestry than in caucasian or african-descended ethnic groups. I’m always having to do more digging in the ears of oriental kids to see their ear drums than any other ethnic group.

Qadgop, MD

Smeghead · February 3, 2001, 3:27am

Wow!! Publish, Qadgop, publish! The Nobel Prize is sure to be yours!!!

Qadgop_the_Mercotan · February 3, 2001, 3:37am

There’s no Nobel prize for ear wax either, I’ve checked.

choosybeggar · February 3, 2001, 3:46am

I’ve never heard of this notion, but I did a medline search. Here’s what I found (BTW-ear wax=cerumen):

Unrelated to the OP but it’s amusing to consider the CHALLENGE of ear wax removal!

I don’t read Russian, but the summary was in english. This group touts the anti-bacterial and anti-viral effects of ear wax (coming to a health food store near you?:))

BMJ 1992 Dec 19-26;305(6868):1571-3
Does earwax lose its pathogens on your auriscope overnight? Overend A, Hall WW, Godwin PG Airedale General Hospital, Keighley, West Yorkshire.
OBJECTIVES–To describe the organisms cultured from general practitioners’ auriscope earpieces; and to explore general
practitioners’ perceptions of the possibility of cross infection from contaminated auriscope earpieces and of how their auriscope earpieces are cleaned. DESIGN–Microbiological survey of auriscope earpieces in two general practices and a semistructured questionnaire sent to 105 general practitioners.
SETTING–General practitioners served by one district general hospital microbiology laboratory in the north of England.
RESULTS–Organisms were cultured from 41 (93%) of 44 auriscope earpieces, of which 14 (32%) carried potential pathogens; four (9%) were heavily contaminated. Of the 85 (81%) general practitioners who responded, 72(85%) believed that contaminated auriscope earpieces could cause serious infection, 66 (78%) did not clean earpieces between patients, and 70 (82%) thought that patients would mind if they knew that dirty earpieces were used. CONCLUSIONS–Almost a third of auriscope earpieces were contaminated by pathogenic bacteria. Although general practitioners suspected this, most did not ensure that a clean earpiece was used for each patient.

(underline mine)
Again unrelated to the OP, but I love this! Yuck, yuck, yuckity, yuck! They suspect a problem with contamination, but do they clean their auriscopes (thingies to look inside the ear)? Of course not. Could it be because they are British:)?

My search turned up zero to relate immune status and ear wax consistency. IMO as an immunologist, there’s unlikely to be one. The immune system has enough to occupy itself without having to worry about softening up the ear wax to let you know it’s time for your echinacea:).

Wonko_The_Sane · February 3, 2001, 4:04am

You might want to smoke less of that stuff, man.

choosybeggar · February 3, 2001, 3:35pm

And while we’re on the topic of odd things and ear wax, try this link about Ear Candling