The other day, a leaflet came through my door advertising “ear candling” at the local hairdresser. By coincidence, my daughter appeared that same day and told me her friend had tried it on her and “it was amazing what came out of my ears” So I thought I’d better put up a post about this before she managed to burn her eardrum playing about with this procedure.

Don’t be fooled by this – what seems to be coming out of your ears is just  the melted wax and soot from the candle.

Ear candling often known as Hopi Ear Candling has several dangers. These are burns of the skin and hair by candle itself and also the ear drum itself might be damaged.

EAR CANDLING

“Ear candling,” also known as auricular candling or coning, refers to various procedures that involve placing a cone-shaped device in the ear canal and supposedly extracting earwax and other impurities with the help of smoke or a burning wick. The origins of candling are obscure. Ancient Tibet, China, Egypt, the pre-Columbian Americas, and even the mythical city of Atlantis are cited as possible contributors. The procedures supposedly create a low-level vacuum that draws wax and other debris out of the ear canal. Some proponents even claim that impurities are removed from the inner ear, the facial sinuses, or even the brain itself, all of which are somehow connected to the canal. Proponents claim that candling can:

“THE BOTTOM LINE

For most people, ear wax moves along the ear canal and eventually makes it to the outside, taking with it any accumulated dirt or other matter. Compacted ear wax should be removed by a physician or other health professional using legitimate instruments. Candling is both ineffective and dangerous.”

HOPI EAR CANDLING – REMOVING THE GREY GOO BETWEEN YOUR EARS

“Hopi Ear Candling, or thermo-auricular therapy (TAT) as it is known, is a rather strange technique that involves sticking a burning candle in your ear. The mundane reason for doing this is that it can allegedly draw out the nasty wax from your ears. Quacks never like to restrict their techniques to the obvious, so the candle apparently acts on the ‘energetic level’ and can also detoxify you and treat all sorts of ailments unconnected with your ear.”

“The main manufacturer of ear candles is a German company called Biosun. Their web site tells us about the Hopi tribe of native Americans and their ancient wisdom. Pictures on their web site show tribe members and ancient murals showing the Hopi sharing candles. The problem is that all this is just made up nonsense. All of it.”

If you want to read a whole host of references on this procedure you can find them here:

EAR CANDLING

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© Tracy Hebden | Dreamstime.com