# Re: Ear candling **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 4, 2011, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834 "2011-11-04T10:36:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![momsaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@momsaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/momsaid)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/1 "2011-11-04T10:36:16Z")
In a piece here called “how do ear candles work?” the ‘expert’ uses condescending and silly tones in dismissing the empirical evidence provided by the letter-writer/advice seeker. Having used them on myself and others (including my children) and found the ears clear of wax afterward, I find the ‘expert’ lacking in wisdom and experience. Cecil Adams, look into a real person’s ears for yourself before and after this treatment and find out what actually happens. As for the otolaryngologist, Dr.C. Christopher Smith, the notion of treating burns from candle wax on the eardrum is specious as well as suspect. The wax melts and is literally ‘wicked up’ like a regular candle wick with the flame. I have NEVER witnessed wax dripping down an ear candle…it’s all drawn upwards. So, either the good doctor treated someone who used a birthday or taper candle, or he’s lying. Lastly, when I treated my husband the first time, upon removing the candle, there was earwax in the tip and in his ear. It was the same substance we’d removed with a Q-tip beforehand. Next time, I believe I’ll submit said evidences to a lab to establish the truth and efficacy of this procedure. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/2 "2011-11-04T10:48:47Z")
[Link to (1995) article](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1103/how-do-ear-candles-work) > [@momsaid](#): > > Next time, I believe I’ll submit said evidences to a lab to establish the truth and efficacy of this procedure. [It has been done](http://www.badscience.net/2004/03/waxing-sceptical/): > [@](#): > > A paper published in the medical journal Laryngoscope used rather expensive tympanometry and found that ear candles exert no suction. The researchers also found no reduction in the amount of wax after a programme of ear candling. Welcome, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/3 "2011-11-04T13:47:52Z")
This creates a suction strong enough to actually move wax upwards? How does the eardrum survive? ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/4 "2011-11-04T14:07:15Z")
I tried it once. All it did was burn my shirt and the toilet seat when I was frantically trying to throw the damn thing in the toilet water to put the fire out. I probably did it wrong though. I’ll just stick to those drops you put in the ear and a warm water suction. At least I don’t risk burning my house down. :0) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/5 "2011-11-04T19:03:36Z")
> [@momsaid](#): > > Cecil Adams, look into a real person’s ears for yourself before and after this treatment and find out what actually happens. He did. From the column: > [@](#): > > First we peered into Pat’s ears with an otoscope, the familiar flashlight-type examining device. The poor guy had enough wax in there to make his own candles. We put him on the table, lit the candle, and stuck it in his ear in the prescribed manner. Then we watched, struggling to suppress the thought that we should also be chanting and maybe sacrificing small animals. > When the candle had burned down to two inches we snuffed it and examined the treated ear with the otoscope. No change, except that possibly the wax was dented where the candle had been stuck in. > [@momsaid](#): > > As for the otolaryngologist, Dr.C. Christopher Smith, the notion of treating burns from candle wax on the eardrum is specious as well as suspect. The wax melts and is literally ‘wicked up’ like a regular candle wick with the flame. Regular candles frequently drip wax down the side even while some amount is being wicked up and burned. > [@](#): > > I have NEVER witnessed wax dripping down an ear candle…it’s all drawn upwards. So, either the good doctor treated someone who used a birthday or taper candle, or he’s lying. So you’re saying an earcandle is completely foolproof, and there’s no way ever that an inexperienced user who buys one in a holistic store and kinda sorta reads the instructions can manage to drip wax from the candle into his ear? > [@](#): > > Lastly, when I treated my husband the first time, upon removing the candle, there was earwax in the tip and in his ear. It was the same substance we’d removed with a Q-tip beforehand. Next time, I believe I’ll submit said evidences to a lab to establish the truth and efficacy of this procedure. Please do. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/6 "2011-11-04T19:07:08Z")
I got into a disagreement with a friend over those things once. We did one candle in my ear and another in my closed fist. We later did a third one in a soda can. All three finished candles looked the same. I made my very first post to this forum about it over ten years ago: [Ear Candles - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=67599) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/7 "2011-11-04T19:08:36Z")
So…as usual, what Mom said was wrong. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/8 "2011-11-04T19:13:26Z")
> [@momsaid](#): > > Next time, I believe I’ll submit said evidences to a lab to establish the truth and efficacy of this procedure. Don’t you think that with all the claims that parallel yours, if test results came back that showed that what you claim is correct we would know about it? ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/9 "2012-07-10T18:47:01Z")
[Ear candling legal update](http://kevinunderhill.typepad.com/Documents/Articles/Fire_in_the_Hole.pdf) (pdf). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/10 "2012-07-10T18:54:26Z")
**momsaid,** there’s a very simple way to prove that the wax found at the end of the procedure is not coming from your ears. Burn an ear candle in the same position and angle as per instructions, but nowhere near anyone’s ear. I believe you will find that wax drips from it just as well, and if you unwrap the paper before lighting it, you can see and feel the wax impregnated in the paper. Please be careful, as this has the potential to severely damage your ears, and there is no possible benefit from it. If you are doing it for masochistic reasons, might I suggest setting your hair on fire instead? [Here’s another article on the subject.](http://www.skepdic.com/coning.html) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/11 "2012-07-10T19:08:27Z")
> [@momsaid](#): > > The wax melts and is literally ‘wicked up’ like a regular candle wick with the flame. [Quackwatch says:](http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/candling.html) > [@](#): > > Since wax is sticky, the negative pressure needed to pull wax from the canal would have to be so powerful that it would rupture the eardrum in the process. However, candling produces no vacuum. Researchers who measured the pressure during candling of ear models found that no negative pressure was created. The same investigators candled eight ears and found that no ear wax was removed and candle wax was actually deposited in some of them! Furthermore, > [@](#): > > The notion that the ear canal is connected to structures beyond the eardrum is false. A review of a good anatomy book should dispel this notion. The external ear canal, with an intact eardrum, is not connected to the brain, the sinuses targeted by the procedure (those above your eyes), or the Eustachian tubes (the passageways between the internal ear and the back of the throat). While some claim that the eardrum is porous and quickly allows impurities to pass through, this is untrue. The “impurities” that appear in the collected wax (usually on a paper plate or other collecting device) are nothing more than the ashes from the burnt wick and wax of the cone itself. And, > [@](#): > > Candling poses several dangers, the most serious of which involve burning caused by the hot wax. Candle manufacturers claim that their candles will drip only down the outside of the ear, but shamefully few direct the user to hold the candle horizontally to prevent this. A 1996 survey of 144 ear, nose, and throat physicians, found that 14 had seen patients who had been harmed by ear candling, including at least 13 cases of external burns, 7 cases of ear canal obstruction with candle wax, and 1 perforated eardrum. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/12 "2012-07-10T20:45:36Z")
Looks like **momsaid** hasn’t been back since her first, huffy post last year. Maybe she can’t hear us? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/13 "2012-07-11T16:55:55Z")
Why do people fool with stuff like this when the drops you can get at the drugstore work? Why risk burning yourself with some unproven treatment when a safe, inexpensive, and proven treatment works? I think some people just want to buck convention just for the sake of bucking convention. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/14 "2012-07-11T17:02:16Z")
But look how [happy](http://contemplans.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/ear-candling.jpg) [ear candling](https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTeKum_X0dgIImqeZQLly0J582o7r-ng6nZnl8wqBam8VfjZkl6tA) [makes](https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSITt1wAGHJTv0kipSgShd-ZCWxPWQmzfr4dGIDVrKRc1L2jgkTsg) [you](https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS4UdJ11_MypIStYZ9964Cz1bQCb0T86Ma0nKGZG2I6xbLheqhs) Don’t tell me you can get that level of satisfaction from drops! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/15 "2012-07-11T17:09:02Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I got into a disagreement with a friend over those things once. We did one candle in my ear and another in my closed fist. We later did a third one in a soda can. All three finished candles looked the same. > > I made my very first post to this forum about it over ten years ago: [Ear Candles - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=67599) Pretty much the same scenario for me. One in my ear, one in her’s followed by a “SEE IT WORKS!!!” then I said, let’s just burn one and and proclaimed “SEE, WHERE’D ALL _THAT_ WAX COME FROM?” Followed by an “oh”. Luckily she was rational enough that that was all she needed to understand that they weren’t doing quite what they advertised. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/16 "2012-07-11T17:25:21Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > But look how [happy](http://contemplans.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/ear-candling.jpg) [ear candling](https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTeKum_X0dgIImqeZQLly0J582o7r-ng6nZnl8wqBam8VfjZkl6tA) [makes](https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSITt1wAGHJTv0kipSgShd-ZCWxPWQmzfr4dGIDVrKRc1L2jgkTsg) [you](https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS4UdJ11_MypIStYZ9964Cz1bQCb0T86Ma0nKGZG2I6xbLheqhs) Don’t tell me you can get that level of satisfaction from drops! Did you Google “happy ear candlers” to find all of those, or maybe “grinning morons”? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/17 "2012-07-11T17:28:48Z")
Just an image search for ear candling. There’s even a flickr photostream of people ear candling which only goes to show, if you can imagine it, someone has photographed it. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/18 "2012-07-11T17:51:51Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Why do people fool with stuff like this when the drops you can get at the drugstore work? Why risk burning yourself with some unproven treatment when a safe, inexpensive, and proven treatment works? > > I think some people just want to buck convention just for the sake of bucking convention. There is a common mind-set that believes:[ul][_]The ancients knew more than we do now[_]Modern medicine kills, but does not cure[_]Modern medicine exists only to make money by defrauding patients[_]Ancient medicine is being suppressed by modern proponents[_]The government is actively prohibiting all beneficial chemicals and procedures, especially the cheap ones[_]Our bodies are rebelling against modern diets, having evolved for hunter-gatherer cultures[_]Everything “natural” works, anything “artificial” doesn’t[_]Anything suggested by an uneducated, untrained “medical” practitioner, who is by nature pure and altruistic, is preferred over advice by doctors who would rather torture and kill their patients, since there is more money in it[/ul]There’s more, but you get the idea. Once you accept that mind-set, everything else follows. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/19 "2012-07-11T17:56:54Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Just an image search for ear candling. There’s even a flickr photostream of people ear candling which only goes to show, if you can imagine it, someone has photographed it. So then there must be porn of ear candling… ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834/20 "2012-07-11T18:03:23Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > So then there must be porn of ear candling… Isn’t that one of the internet laws? I forget the number. “If it exists, there is porn of it.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-ear-candling/601834.md?page=2)