Efficacy of Ear Candles

Oh, Jae Kook; Woo, Seung Yeob; Min, Hun Ki; Park, Moon Suh

doi:10.35420/jcohns.1998.9.2.233

J Clin Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1998; 9(2):233-236

pISSN: 1225-0244, eISSN: 2713-833X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35420/jcohns.1998.9.2.233

원저

Ear Candle의 유용성

오재국¹, 우승엽¹, 민헌기¹, 박문서¹

Efficacy of Ear Candles

Jae Kook Oh¹, Seung Yeob Woo¹, Hun Ki Min¹, Moon Suh Park¹

Author Information & Copyright ▼

¹한림대학교 의과대학 이비인후과학교실

¹Department of Otorhinolaryngology, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Seoul, Korea

© Copyright 1998 The Busan, Ulsan, Gyeoungnam Branch of Korean Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: May 31, 2020

ABSTRACT

Background and Objective: Ear candle is alternative health treatment advocated for cerumen removal.

Materials and Method: A hollow candle is burned with one end in the ear canal with the intent of creating negative pressure and drawing cerumen from the ear. This study evaluates the efficacy of this alternative method for cerumen removal.

Results: Tympanometric measurement in an ear canal model demonstrated that ear candles do not produce negative pressure. A limited trial(6 ears) showed no removal of cerumen from the external auditory canal.

Conclusion: Ear candles have no benefit in the management of cerumen and may result in injury.

Keywords: Ear candle; Ear wax