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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Could Be The Reason For Red Color In Qtip After Cleaning Ears?

I clean my ears frequently but not every day, and lately every time I use a qtip it's red when I pull it out. I thought maybe I made my ear bleed, I was cleaning them too often, or too deep. So I waited a week, and consciously didn't go deep and still all red when I pulled it out. What's going on?
Thu, 6 Mar 2014
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ENT Specialist 's  Response
Hello and welcome to health care magic,

You must realise that our ears have great self cleaning mechanism by which ears get cleaned when we chew or speak and things like Q tip interfere with this mechanism and cause more harm than good so I would advice you to stop using them completely.

In any case it is evident that your canal or drum has got injured and thats why the tip is red. Since the canal is very sensitive this is very common and nothing to worry about.

You must however definitely seek an ENT consult so that the integrity of the canal and drum can be confirmed. Start on a course of antibiotic like amox-clav and antihistamine like levocetrizine in consultation with your doctor.

Keep your ears dry for a week or so and do not put any drops

Hope you recover soon

regards

Dr Sriram Nathan
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What Could Be The Reason For Red Color In Qtip After Cleaning Ears?

Hello and welcome to health care magic, You must realise that our ears have great self cleaning mechanism by which ears get cleaned when we chew or speak and things like Q tip interfere with this mechanism and cause more harm than good so I would advice you to stop using them completely. In any case it is evident that your canal or drum has got injured and thats why the tip is red. Since the canal is very sensitive this is very common and nothing to worry about. You must however definitely seek an ENT consult so that the integrity of the canal and drum can be confirmed. Start on a course of antibiotic like amox-clav and antihistamine like levocetrizine in consultation with your doctor. Keep your ears dry for a week or so and do not put any drops Hope you recover soon regards Dr Sriram Nathan