How Do Ear Candles Actually Cleanse The Ears?

Have you ever heard that ear candles are used to clean the ears? It is anatomically impossible for an ear candle to clean the ear canal. "What??? I don't think I can hear properly," you will surely think now. Because with every application, earwax is sucked out and collects in the candle? To test whether ear candles cleanse the ears, you can burn an ear candle next time without putting it on the ear canal. If you then look inside the candle after extinguishing it, you will find deposits that look like earwax, even though the ear candle was never inside the ear. 

Ear candles activate the self-cleaning powers

But then what are these deposits in the candle? Very simple: wax residues that are created when the candle burns down. Because even with a vacuum cleaner, you couldn't just suck out earwax. 

With a healthy ear, this is not even necessary. Because there are cilia in the outer ear canal, which slowly transport the earwax outwards. If blockages occur here (due to the use of Q-tips or increased production, for example, after swimming), ENT doctors usually rinse the ear canal with warm water. 

Ear candles can, however, support the self-cleaning of the ears: The smoke from the ear candle, which passes through the filter into the ear canal, is a little warmer than the ambient temperature. The heat makes it easier for the earwax to be transported to the outside. In the days after the treatment, more earwax sometimes runs out of the ear, but only so little that most users would not even notice it without prior warning.