Bugs in ears are a common occurrence? And moths especially so?
I’ve never heard of this happening…
And now I’m scared.
Where are my earplugs…
Most of the sources I’ve read claim that ear wax evolved for just this reason - to move dirt out of the ear, and to help keep bugs that climb in the ear from damaging the ear drum.
The trick really does seem to be getting it exactly body temperature. I only seem to notice that there is water in my ear when it is noticeably colder or warmer.
I’ve always had a hell of a time with ear buds - they are always too damn big and never fit right.
This past christmas, my wife got me a pair of these waterproof headphones. There was no way the unmodified earplugs would fit inside my ear canal to keep water out. I’ve spent the past month experimenting with soft silicone ear plug material, I finally got them to keep water out of my ear for 25 minutes before the seal broke. Thats all I’ve been able to achieve. Its a pain in the neck.
A couple weeks ago, I went to an allergist for a checkup, and she had to use a pediatric cone on the light thingie they use to look inside the ear.
For many years, I’ve had such troubles with ear buds and the like. I’ve recently been cursing my tiny tiny misshapen ear canals.
After reading this thread about ants and moths and bugs and all these other critters that work their way into peoples ears - I’m suddenly thankful for my ear canals.
Tell that to my daughter, who at age 7 already has ample experience with the former and once or twice has needed to do the latter.
You might check with audiologists who fit “in-ear monitors” for musicians. Ask around at local music stores. Any worthwhile one will have a few audiologists they refer their customers to to get fitted for those special earphones for stage use. They will cast the shape of your ear and make custom. There are even places where you can get a kit to cast your ears at home.
Ear buds aren’t supposed to fit inside the ear canal, they hook onto the knobbly bits of your outer ear.
I’ve had one of my ears irrigated with a “Water Pik” (who can forget the name?) and it was a truly awful experience that I never want to repeat, ever again.
This was fifteen years ago and it still makes me twitchy.
I haven’t had any excess wax problems that I’m aware of since then…perhaps my ears are wastelands of massive ancient wax…but I’m OK with not knowing.
You’re thinking of the terrible, designed for non-humans, Apple-style round earbuds. We’re talking about the type that fit into the ear canal like ear plugs. Etymotics was the inventor of that type, and still produces the best (IMO). The in-ear type can actually reduce external noise far more effectively than the active noise-cancelling type, and - with a proper fit - nothing can touch them for bass.
My friend had stepped out of the woodshop at night.
The outside light had the usually swarm of moths.
As he stepped out, his path and a moths path intersected in a most unfortunate way. I’d bet more people get killed by lightning than have this happen to em.
If I hadn’t seen it myself, I’d have a hard time believing it.
And from his rolling on the ground like a crack addict being electrocuted, the flapping of moths wings against the eardrum appears to a rather unpleasant sensation.
I think Id rather get hit by lightening … I had an eardrum essentially selfdestruct from an infection, felt like someone jammed an icepick into my ear. I cant imagine a moth flapping around :eek:
I was thinking about giving my ears a thorough cleaning with the solution the OP stated, but after reading this thread I think I like my ear wax… I use a q-tip every day, so I don’t think I have a terrible build up, but I’m gonna keep the wax I do have, thank you very much.
My worst bug and ear experience doesn’t involve the critter going IN my ear at all. I just hate when you’re falling asleep and you get that “eeeeeeee” buzz of a mosquite right next to your ear and you have the obligatory freak out, turn on all the lights, and spend 30 minutes hunting in vain for the little bastard until you give up, lie back in bed, and the process repeats itself. Maybe stuff like this is why I don’t have a girlfriend… 
Read the Ear Wax FAQ I posted. The ENT doc who writes it has this to say on the subject of q-tips.
It is certainly safe to swab the outer portion of the ear. The opening of the ear canal can also safely be swabbed. Deeper swabbing is potentially risky for three reasons. First, if you have a lot of ear wax, placing the swab into the canal will tend to pack it down, which can turn a partial blockage into a complete blockage. Second, you may damage the ear drum if the swab is inserted too deeply. Finally, if you scratch or abrade the ear canal skin, you may cause a painful infection of the canal (“swimmer’s ear,” known medically as otitis externa.) Despite these risks, if you do not have a lot of wax and are careful in your technique, you can swab more deeply in the canal. But why would you want to do this? Wax migrates out of the canal all by itself and does not need your help. Remember, wax protects the ear canal skin and ear drum.
You may be doing much more harm than good with those things. You’re probably packing the wax in there. Try the solution, and I think you’ll be surprised how much you’ve missed.
yea, my ma used to tell me that stuff. I don’t really go into my ear, just around the edges and a slight bit of the inside, and to be honest it’s more to dry my ears than anything (and get at any wax that could conceivably be visable) I don’t like the feeling of water in my ears (unless I’m in a pool or something, obviously)
I’ll have to look up what hydrogen peroxyide is in Japanese…
This might be true for many people. However, if I don’t scrape out my earwax (with the rounded end of a bobby pin), it builds up something terrible. I have quite oily skin in many areas, and I guess that my ear canals also exude too much wax/grease.
Besides, it feels so good to scrape out that wax, and have clean ear canals.
Well, that’s the non-technical term. And I did back when I was 5. They’re tympanostomy tubes. Little teeny soft rubber “grommet”; both of them popped out after the incision healed up, so I ought to have intact eardrums because that’s what’s normal afterwards.
I get a clicking sound in my ear which I’d been told was from wax against my ear drum. Once, the clicking was really persistent and painful, I had nothing else so I used rubbing alcohol and then swabbed my ear. There was a flea in there. The alcohol stunned it and got it to stop moving so I could swab it out. I am not flea infested but that one guy managed to find his way in there. Since then I make sure that everyone gets their Advantage at any sign of fleas.
I’ve had an earwig in my ear once. Like Opalcat I shook it out without resorting to chemical warfare.
Damn, that little bugger can stepdance.
There’s a scene in the movie Mountains of the Moon in which the Victorian explorer John Hanning Speke has a bug crawl into his ear. It basically drives him mad.
Good movie, by the way; it’s about the relationship between Speke and Richard Francis Burton.
And the way he removes it is NOT recommended.
When I was a kid I used to love having my mom clean out my ears with a Japanese ear cleaner (wtih the scoop on one end and cotton fluff on the other). I’d lie on my side and she’d go to work. Sometimes I’d have sand in there after we went to the beach.