Why you shouldn’t use cotton swabs to clean your ears

The doctors’ advice hasn’t changed much, but it’s still so unsatisfying: You should not use cotton swabs to clean your ears.
Updated clinical guidelines published Tuesday in the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery say they’re not appropriate for earwax removal. In fact, information for patients in the guidelines say no to putting anything “smaller than your elbow in your ear.”
Regardless, most of us hoard a stash of the soft-tipped paper sticks; they seem so perfectly suited to that dirty job.