MONTREAL — Cotton wool applicators send 34 children to the emergency room every day, according to a US study.
Researchers at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital network counted 263,000 such incidents among young people aged 18 and under between 1990 and 2010, an average of 12,500 per year or 34 per day.
The survey published by The Journal of Pediatrics reveals that three-quarters of injuries occurred while a cotton ball applicator was being used to clean the ear. A similar percentage of injuries occurred while the child was using the applicator alone. Two out of three patients were under the age of eight, and 40 percent of the injuries occurred in toddlers between the ages of zero and three.
About half of the injuries involved a perforated eardrum or soft tissue damage.
In the most severe cases, damage to the eardrum or inner ear can cause dizziness, balance problems or irreversible hearing loss.
Study author, otolaryngologist Kris Jatana, said it’s incorrect to believe that the ear canal needs cleaning at home, and that a cotton ball applicator is the right tool to do it.
The ear canal, he added, tends to clean itself, and using a cotton ball applicator, in addition to pushing the wax towards the eardrum, carries a high risk of injury.
Dr. Jatana said the number of injuries associated with cotton applicators remains too high, even though it has been declining over the 21 years covered by the study.