Don't play with Q-tips!

Many of us grew up using q-tips, usually for cleaning our ears. I even thought my grandmother was crazy when she told me not to use q-tips because, “they are dangerous.” Boy was she right! And no, infant safety q-tips aren’t any better.

In my opinion, Q-tips are great for pretty much 3 things: cleaning belly buttons, removing makeup and touching up nail polish.

I can’t tell you how many Q-tip disasters I have seen in the office, but I’d be happy to list the top few for you.

1. Impacted Cerumen (medical words for wax shoved so far, and so deep in a kids ear that it is practically impossible to get out) - Parents, kids, and teens will use Q-tips to, supposedly. remove wax from their ears. What they don't realize is that our bodies naturally make us stop when it hurts to prevent damaging the ear drum, thus we stop short of removing the wax and just push it back further. Removing wax that has been repeatedly pushed farther and farther into the ear canal is both a nightmare for your child and your pediatrician. Leave the wax removal to us, or use hydrogen peroxide.
2.  Nasal Foreign Body (i.e. Q-tip up the nose) – Babies and kids just LOVE shoving stuff up their nose and you would be surprised by how far they shove it up their nose, how quietly they do it and how long it takes to figure out there is something up there. Think DAYS, funny smells you can’t quite put a finger on (haha, pun intended) and lots of clear/green/bloody goop coming out of their nose. Oh, and a trip to the ENT to have it removed.
3. Ruptured Tympanic Membrane (yup, poking a hole right in that sweet little ear drum) – The thought process is, “I’ve seen Mom/Dad do this. I think I will give it a try. Hey Sis, come here; let me experiment with this Q-tip. Ahhhhh, why is she screaming!”

If you really want to get the wax out of an ear use hydrogen peroxide, yup hydrogen peroxide.  (Or as I like to call it, the snap, crackle and pop method.) Just lay the kiddo down in front of the T.V., fill the ear with hydrogen peroxide, let it sit for 10-15 minutes and then repeat on the other side. Afterward put them in the bath and use the warm bath water (and maybe the blue nose sucker from the hospital) to rinse out the chunks of wax. *** If your little one has tubes in their ears, this is not recommended ***

On a side note, earwax build up can lead to an increased risk for “swimmer’s” ear, or even “bath-tub” ear. The water gets stuck inside a nice warm place and makes a perfect home for fungus and bacteria to grow. Leading to a painful infection of the skin in the ear canal. The usual symptom of swimmer’s ear is an ear that is painful to the touch on the outside. The best way to prevent swimmer’s ear is to keep ears free of excessive wax build up and to use a solution of 50/50 vinegar and rubbing alcohol to dry them out after getting wet. I tell a lot of parents to just mix some up at the beginning of the summer and use it after every time the child goes swimming to stop the problem before it starts. (Warm drops are less irritating than cold ear drops, so bring the solution with you into the sun so it can warm up a little bit) Once there is pain, it is time to go to the doctor for proper treatment and diagnosis.

Remember, this is just my daily soapbox. My opinion does not necessarily reflect the same opinion of your child’s physician and does not ever replace a visit or phone call to the pediatricians office.

Safety First!

Megen, PNP