Cotton swabs are something I use every single day and never thought twice about throwing out -- until now. When I saw a reusable cotton swab called Last Swab on Facebook, in an effort to reduce my ...

Q-tips, or cotton swabs, are safe to use outside your ear, but they should not be stuck inside your ear to clear out wax. We'll discuss why and what to do instead.

Using a cotton swab to clean your ears may seem trivial. However, this well-established habit can have unexpected consequences. According to ENT specialists, cotton swabs don't actually remove earwax.

Cotton swab fibers, while appearing “nice and fuzzy,” she said, are “actually quite abrasive.” And that can cause your ear to produce more wax to protect the now-vulnerable skin.