Mainstream Press Catches On To Ear Candling

Posting Date: 06/16/2000

I had to laugh when I saw the "Trend Alert" in this week's Time Magazine. I've actually been alerting people about this trend for a while. It's ear candling -- and believe it or not, it is one of the most persistent -- and most ridiculous trends to come out of the alternative therapy movement.

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You are supposed to stick a beeswax candle in your ear and light it up. According to proponents, it is supposed to remove impurities from your ear -- excess wax, dirt, even, according to the Time article, ear mites.

Fortunately, the magazine quotes a spokesperson from the American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery, who says he's "not impressed" by the practice at all.

Of course he isn't -- as I've been telling you for years, ear candling is a silly, pointless and even hazardous practice. The candle doesn't suck impurities from your ear -- but it might burn you, or drip hot wax on your face.

We did this on TV a while back and showed that when you burn the candle in a jar, you find just as much wax and dirt inside afterwards as you do when you burn the candle in someone's ear. We've got photos of it up here on HealthCentral.com in our special report "Inside Ear Candling: The Real Story."

Please, everyone -- your ear does a very effective job of cleaning itself. That's why we have earwax -- to catch the dirt and germs that get in your ear and keep it from getting to the inner ear. And ear mites? Don't panic -- humans don?t get them.

I'm glad to see mainstream news sources like Time exposing these practices for what they are -- unproved and useless. Better late than never, I guess.