Ear bud can cause cancer
@Professor2010 (20162)
India
February 18, 2012 7:29am CST
A classmate of mine is diagnosed to have cancer in the ear cavity. He used to clean his ears using match-sticks; this many do by wrapping cotton over that end of match-stick that has no coating. But this friend used the coated portion straight. His ears started getting infected and pus came out of it, doctors suspected it to be due to red-phosphorus in the coating.
He was advised to clean using rectified spirit and ear-buds. But this miser used the same bud again and again. Now he admits his mistake. He will undergo surgery on 22nd of this month.
Minor negligence in health can cost one too much, one may die.
[b]Do you use ear-buds for cleaning ears, how frequently you do it?
[/b]
I clean once every fortnight, first I clean the ear-wax using a silver wire flattened at one end, my father gave me this when I was a guy. Next I wipe the ear cavity with an ear-bud dipped in rectified spirit and throw it away.
Some clean after each bath or shower, I never do.
[b]Do you clean after each shower o bath?
Please respond, comment on this and share your opinion.
Thanks in advance.[/b]
Let’s enjoy life to fullest.
Professor ‘*^Bhuwan^*’. .
18/2/2012.
[/i][i]
Minor negligence in health can cost one too much, one may die.
[b]Do you use ear-buds for cleaning ears, how frequently you do it?
[/b]
I clean once every fortnight, first I clean the ear-wax using a silver wire flattened at one end, my father gave me this when I was a guy. Next I wipe the ear cavity with an ear-bud dipped in rectified spirit and throw it away.
Some clean after each bath or shower, I never do.
[b]Do you clean after each shower o bath?
Please respond, comment on this and share your opinion.
Thanks in advance.[/b]
Let’s enjoy life to fullest.
Professor ‘*^Bhuwan^*’. .
18/2/2012.
[/i][i]6 people like this
22 responses
@jaiho2009 (39142)
• Philippines
18 Feb 12
dear dada,
You friend's case might be another case of causing cancer.
Some ear cotton buds made from recycled cotton are also not safe to use.
Better use those expensive branded one.
Anyway, we need to take care of our health/ ears with proper and extra care.
hugs to you and maa
You friend's case might be another case of causing cancer.
Some ear cotton buds made from recycled cotton are also not safe to use.
Better use those expensive branded one.
Anyway, we need to take care of our health/ ears with proper and extra care.
hugs to you and maa@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
2 Mar 12
Jane beti
I have said he is miser, he will never buy Johnson buds, but the cheap Chinese stuff sold in roadsides.
Hugs again.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
2 Mar 12
mygoodness here in the US Johbnson and Johnson q tips are really inexpensive and for me my health insurance does cover them. to use chinese stuff is dangerous as they are not careful about contaminants.
@lovejca78 (53)
• Philippines
18 Feb 12
It must be devastating for him to learn that he has cancer! I clean my ears using cotton buds everyday after taking a bath. We all have cancer cells in our body but their growth are triggered by something, especially when we abuse our body. The way your classmate is cleaning his ears with matchsticks, that is truly dangerous, because sometimes the cotton might be left inside the ear if he has not rolled it well. When you cleaning your ears often it usually gets itchy and some people just poke the ear bud all the more, and that is very harmful to the ears. If he has been doing this for many years, possibly cancer growth was inevitable.
3 people like this
@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
2 Mar 12
Welcome to mylot
Glad to know you clean after bath
Thanks for detailed response
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (159058)
• Boise, Idaho
20 Feb 12
I think that people don't realize how much they can damage their ears. I clean mine every few days with a Q-tip. I don't clean after every shower. Only when my ears feel dirty. I can usually tell if there is something in there.
@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
3 Mar 12
Thanks for response, i have not heard about Q tip
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (159058)
• Boise, Idaho
4 Mar 12
Q-tip is a very good item to have around. They used to use bobby pins. Very dangerous!
@anil78650 (177)
• India
19 Feb 12
I use to clean my ear using the same match stick technique, but after some time my ear started to pain a little bit then I ask my mom about it and she said "it happening because you are using match stick to clean your ear" and she just forbid me for doing it.But one I just do it and my ears get very big pain a pain that I can't bear and I had to go to doctor for checkup.......after that I never touch match stick for cleaning earn...I use ear bud now to clean my ear but for often ally...and about cleaning everyday after shower the doctor say that there is no need for a cleanup ear after shower because its automatically dried itself means I have no need to clean my ears daily after shower......I don't know if he is right or wrong.......
2 people like this
@stk40m (1119)
• Koeln, Germany
18 Feb 12
the doctors were probably right. Maybe those were strike-anywhere matches, those could be really dangerous, phosphorus can be toxic, especially the white modification. I clean my ears once a week with such a cotton bud but cleaning them too often can cause skin irritation or worse infection. I don't really like to do it because sometimes my ears get clogged when I push the buds too deep into my ears... had to go to the doctor several times in the past so he would flush out the ear. A clogged ear can be very unpleasant if you try to flush it out yourself - you get very dizzy and get nausea all the time.
2 people like this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
2 Mar 12
hi professor red phosphorous is really toxic, and in chemistry lab when I wasyoung in college a class mate put a small piece of white
phosp;horous on top of a bowl of water just to watch it sizzle and dance around. our instructor was really angry at him. He yelled"that is not a toy put it back in the container now.," this really scared me as I was really young then.
@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
2 Mar 12
No they are the so called 'Safety Matches', but this has red-phosphorous, equally bad.
1 person likes this
@stk40m (1119)
• Koeln, Germany
2 Mar 12
hmm, I think white phosphorus is far more dangerous to health than red phosphorus, see ''precautions'' on Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorus
but maybe the red phosphorus can cause allergic reactions which again cause cancer, I don't know..
I once touched white phosphorus and when I turned off the light my fingers glowed. I then immedidiately rinsed my fingers and when I switched off the lights they still glowed. After rising my fingers with soap for five times I gave it up to get rid of the glow :D
@Ernnesto (180)
• Slovak Republic
18 Feb 12
I know that cleaning ears is really sensitive. You have to pay attention how you are doing this and how. I use to clean my ears once per 5 days but just with hands and water, I do not want to there nothing like sticks or such things. It is really bad to know that you can get a cancer from such things. I hope that your friend will be healthy soon.
2 people like this
@rogue13xmen13 (14403)
• United States
18 Feb 12
My step-sister has a brain tumor, that was not cause by using headphones or ear buds, but by using cell phones. She used to have the really big one because she's a prenatal nurse. She was on-call often, and so she needed a cell to use to get her job done. Now, she's been using these cell phones since the 1980s when they first began to appear. The old cell phones were huge, clunky, and could produce a lot of radiation, enough to cause damage to the body.
Now, no one really has a lot of information on the new cell phones and if they are the same as the big old clunky cell phones. Could the new ones produce a lot of radiation? We don't know. Can ear buds produces a lot of radiation? Again, no one knows this for sure. Researchers and scientists are still doing a lot of studies on this.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
18 Feb 12
Well I think the coating on the matchis really what probably caused the problem. Him putting that in his ear all the time wasnt a good idea. Unfortunately he had to learn the lesson about this the hard way by getting cancer in his ear cavity. How sad. I hope they will be able to rid him of the cancer without too much other damage. I just use cotton swabs to clean my ears. I'm guessing where you are they must not have them or they might be to expensive. I use them every night after my shower or my ears will itch terribly.
2 people like this
@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
2 Mar 12
I guess that too, the chemicals might be those that cause cancer.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
2 Mar 12
hi professor I use a soft cotton tipped Qtip occasionally to clean my ears.But I am very careful and do not probe inside at all.If I had earwax which I do not, I would u use a special earwax removal kit but I do not have that problem.Really one should not probe with any thing as you run the danger of rupturing the ear drum. I sure do not do it after ev every bath as I seldom have earwax build up.
1 person likes this
@triptadasgupta (900)
• India
18 Feb 12
Hello sir,i am vg from cancer whicery sorry to hear that a class mate of yours is suffering from cancer whicon to petty h is really a dreaded disult ease.This happens due to negligence of human beings.we really dont pay attention to petty things and as a result to hazardous things.I sincerely hope that your friends surgery is a successful one and he recovers quickly. have a nice day
2 people like this
@tigeraunt (6326)
• Philippines
18 Feb 12
hi professor,
too sad your classmate is having cancer.
sometimes, we take small things for granted and we only learn of our mistake when it is already too late.
i hope your friend will heal back and live a lot longer. am sure by now he is no longer using the match stick to clean his ears.
ann
2 people like this
@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
2 Mar 12
Sweety
We are all worried for him, we pray for him.
We are all worried for him, we pray for him.1 person likes this
@stanley777 (9402)
• Philippines
29 Mar 12
I'm sorry to hear about your classmate's condition, I just hope it could be remedied soon. I also have a habit of cleaning my ears after taking shower because I find it easy to clean them after bath. I only used cotton buds for that purpose but lately I read an article written by some medical experts that constant cleaning of our ears can be more harmful than what we thought. They say that our ears needed that wax we try to wipe out so that insects will stick to it just in case they want to enter inside thru our ears.
1 person likes this
@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
29 Mar 12
God has given wax for some specific purpose friend, we must understand that.
@rollylolly (2843)
• India
18 Feb 12
Oh God I am so sorry to hear about your friend's story . I know many do this without knowing that it can be highly dangerous .
I see my father uses the same procedure as you do but I use Johnson's buds ocassionally .
Thanks for sharing . Have a nice day :-)
2 people like this
@jhuddith (222)
• Philippines
18 Feb 12
Hi Professor,
We use cotton buds in cleaning our ears.. I clean my ears once or twice a month... Normally depends to where I am spending most of my time with - indoor or outdoor.. Because I can feel that if I am spending too much time outside, my ear wax tend to trap more dirt... And I clean my ear anytime I please, not necessarily after shower... The cotton buds to which I believe is safer is the one whose rod is made of rolled paper..
1 person likes this
@mayka123 (16584)
• India
19 Feb 12
I am not too sure if the ear buds or the match stick was the cause of cancer. He may have hurt himself with the matchstick at some time and the injury may have got worse and that may have cause some serious problems. I just clean my ears with my hands everyday and use the ear buds about once a week or so. I do no use anything other than ear buds to clean my ears.
@mammots (3209)
• Philippines
19 Feb 12
hello Professor... maayong hapun to you:) i clean my ears once a month or usually i just wait for my ears to give me a signal that it needs cleaning. i do it right after my bath. i don't use a silver wire but i use clean cotton buds with smaller tips. i am very careful when it comes to my ears because when i was in college i had otitis media. it was a very painful experience that i don't want to go through again:(
@sjvg1976 (41131)
• Delhi, India
19 Feb 12
Hello professor,
So sad to hear about your friend but its reality i also have seen lots of people cleaning up their earns with match stick and too with the coated end 
of course red phosphorous is the cause of damage
.I rarely clean up my ears but whenever i do i do it with cotton bud and throw it away.
of course red phosphorous is the cause of damage.I rarely clean up my ears but whenever i do i do it with cotton bud and throw it away.
@deodavid (4150)
• Philippines
19 Feb 12
Hi there prof,
Well i guess stubborn people learn the hard way sometimes, he did, but i hope he get's better no one wishes anyone to have something like this i would never wish my enemy to get cancer it is one of the worst disease a man could have while he is still lucid.
Anyway i hope he gets well and listen to the doctors this time around regards to him and prof you are very and truly informative sir!!! Take care.
@demibug (72)
• Philippines
19 Feb 12
I agree with what preethaanju said about the cause of cancer. The usage of an improvised ear bud is not necessarily the one that caused the cancer of your friend. Sometimes, it is idiopathic or it is a combination of factors. Your friend should have a complete history over the cause. But nevertheless, I hope your friend will do fine in his operation. I will pray for him as well.
Regarding your question, I do clean after bath cause I feel the cerumen is softer that way.
