Earwax, a bodily emanation that many of us would rather do without, is actually pretty useful stuff — in small amounts. It’s a natural cleanser as it moves from inside the ear canal outward, gathering dead skin cells, hair, and dirt along the way. Tests have shown that it has antibacterial and antifungal properties. If your ears don’t have enough earwax, they’re likely to feel itchy and uncomfortable. And if you don’t have the right kind, you may be more likely to get ear infections.

But for many people, earwax is manifestly too much of a good thing. An ear canal plugged up with earwax can cause earaches, infections, and other problems. And, not surprisingly, an excess of earwax can result in some loss of hearing.

Guidelines from the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery stress a let-it-be attitude toward earwax and warn against removal unless the earwax is causing a problem.

Earwax starts as a mixture of fatty secretions from the sebaceous glands and sweat glands in the walls of the outer ear canal. Jaw movement from chewing or talking helps propel those secretions through the canal to the ear opening, where they dry up and harmlessly flake off. Earwax that picks up a lot of debris or sits in the ear canal for a long time can get hard and dry, so it’s more likely to cause a blockage. Conditions that produce a lot of dry, flaking skin, like eczema, can also result in hard earwax. And with age, the glandular secretions change consistency, so they don’t travel as easily through the ear canal.

Hearing aids, which block the normal migration of earwax out of the ear, may also stimulate glands in the ear canal to produce more secretions. It is recommended that clinicians check patients with hearing aids for earwax buildup during any health care encounter.

Content Provided by Harvard Medical and is found at this link.