Earwax Care Is Important

It’s part of your body’s defense system

- Samantha Rideout

WHILE IT MAY NOT BE one of your body’s most attractive features, earwax (medical term: cerumen) is part of its natural defenses. Secreted by glands in your ear canals, it cleans and protects by trapping invading dirt and dust and preventing the growth of bacteria. Thanks in part to the motions of chewing and talking, older cerumen makes its way out of the ear, where it falls out or washes away, bringing germs and other foreign particles with it and making room for fresh wax.

Under normal circumstances, proper wax management boils down to letting this process happen naturally. If wax is visible on your outer ear, you can gently clean it with a cloth.