The research was published in ‘The Journal of Pediatrics.’ Previous research showed that in the United Kingdom (UK), close to 7, 000 people were treated for ear bud emergencies every year. According to hospital reports, injuries caused by the cotton buds include burst eardrums, loss of balance and total loss of hearing.
The ‘mailonline’ reports that majority of injuries occurred as a result of using cotton tip applicators to clean the ears (73 per cent), playing with cotton tip applicators (10 per cent), or children falling when they have cotton tip applicators in their ear (nine per cent). Seventy-seven per cent of the injuries occurred when the child was using the cotton tip applicator by themselves.
The most common injuries were foreign body sensation, the feeling of having something stuck in the ear, (30 per cent), perforated ear drum (25 per cent) and soft tissue injury (23 per cent). Foreign body sensation was the most common diagnosis among children aged eight to 17 years, while perforated ear drum was the most common among children younger than eight years of age.
Reacting to the development, Dr. Simon Baer, a consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon at Spire Sussex Hospital, said the best way to keep your ears clean was to leave them be.
But a small proportion of people produced excess earwax and should seek treatment, he added. “Nothing larger than an index finger should ever be put in the ear,” he said.
Speaking further, Baer said: “An injury that would lead to hospitalisation would be a perforated eardrum, which is when the bud causes a hole to appear in the eardrum. “One particular danger appears to be falling over with an ear bud in the ear. “Ear buds could also cause damage to the little bones in the ear.
These are known as the ossicles. “In very rare cases damage to the stirrup, one of the small ear bones can cause balance problems. “And in extremely rare cases, ear bud damage can lead to total loss of hearing.”
A new study conducted by Nationwide Children’s Hospital researchers found that more than a 21-year period from 1990 through 2010, 263,000 children were treated in the United States’ hospitals for ear bud-related injuries. That’s about 12,500 children every year or 34 injuries a day, according to a ‘mailonline’ report.
