Almost three dozen children end up in U.S. hospital emergency departments every day thanks to injuries that result from using cotton-tipped swabs to clean their ears, according to a new study.
The highest rate of emergency department visits for ear injuries from cotton swabs was in children up to age 3, the researchers found.
“It highlights the misconception that adults and children need to clean the ear canal in the home setting,” said senior author Dr. Kris Jatana, a pediatric ear, nose and throat surgeon at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. “While cotton-tipped applicators may seem harmless, there are certainly a lot of potential risks to using them to clean the ears.”
About 40 percent of emergency visits were due to a feeling of something stuck in the children's ears.
