Ear Candling
I overheard a conversation about Ear Candling. Despite all the time I spend researching interesting facts, this was a new one for me. Never heard of it. I walked off picturing someone sticking a candle in their ear and lighting it on fire -- thought surely, there had to be more.
If you got that image, pat yourself on the back.
This is from An experiment in ear candling
There are many sites on the net about this "old and now new again" fad. Some swear by it. Some say it's another bit of holistic nonsense.
I know I shouldn't knock something until I try it, but these tidbits alone will keep me from jumping onto the fire. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
As an otolaryngologist with 15 years' experience, I have had more than one occasion on which a victim of ear candling has presented to my office with excruciating symptoms caused by melted wax adhering to the eardrum. This often necessitates minor surgery and puts the patient's hearing at risk. In addition to debunking the efficacy of ear candling, you should mention the inherent danger to hearing. --C. Christopher Smith, MD, FACS, Dover, New Hampshire From this site The Straight Dope: How do "ear candles" work?
"Since wax is sticky, the negative pressure needed to pull wax from the canal would have to be so powerful that it would rupture the eardrum in the process. " From this site Why Ear Candling Is Not a Good Idea
"The authors of the report, all of whom were medical doctors, conducted a survey of 122 ear specialists. They found 21 cases of serious injury caused by ear candling. In six of these cases, patients temporarily lost their hearing. Other problems reported among the group included" From this site It's Your Health - Ear Candling
There are sites on the positive aspects of ear candling, but after reading all the negative, I'm wondering why anyone would take the risk. I have to say it was worth it for the chuckle I found upon digging a bit further.
Ear Candling taken to a new low.
http://buttcandle.com/
It actually says this on their website: "We've made a conscious decision to not include any drawings or photographs of actual ButtCandle ™ usage on this site. Our fear is that a few bad apple pranksters would make a mockery out of those images. "
Call me a bad apple. I was amused enough by the "Jack Be Nimble" pic on their main site. Do yourself a favor. Don't read the procedure page.
If you got that image, pat yourself on the back.
This is from An experiment in ear candling
There are many sites on the net about this "old and now new again" fad. Some swear by it. Some say it's another bit of holistic nonsense.
I know I shouldn't knock something until I try it, but these tidbits alone will keep me from jumping onto the fire. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
As an otolaryngologist with 15 years' experience, I have had more than one occasion on which a victim of ear candling has presented to my office with excruciating symptoms caused by melted wax adhering to the eardrum. This often necessitates minor surgery and puts the patient's hearing at risk. In addition to debunking the efficacy of ear candling, you should mention the inherent danger to hearing. --C. Christopher Smith, MD, FACS, Dover, New Hampshire From this site The Straight Dope: How do "ear candles" work?
"Since wax is sticky, the negative pressure needed to pull wax from the canal would have to be so powerful that it would rupture the eardrum in the process. " From this site Why Ear Candling Is Not a Good Idea
"The authors of the report, all of whom were medical doctors, conducted a survey of 122 ear specialists. They found 21 cases of serious injury caused by ear candling. In six of these cases, patients temporarily lost their hearing. Other problems reported among the group included" From this site It's Your Health - Ear Candling
There are sites on the positive aspects of ear candling, but after reading all the negative, I'm wondering why anyone would take the risk. I have to say it was worth it for the chuckle I found upon digging a bit further.
Ear Candling taken to a new low.
http://buttcandle.com/
It actually says this on their website: "We've made a conscious decision to not include any drawings or photographs of actual ButtCandle ™ usage on this site. Our fear is that a few bad apple pranksters would make a mockery out of those images. "
Call me a bad apple. I was amused enough by the "Jack Be Nimble" pic on their main site. Do yourself a favor. Don't read the procedure page.
posted by Rinda Elliott at 2:40 PM
5 Comments:
that's a great pic...
I know some musicians into ear candling. Basically, you have wax in your ear, right? And these hollow candles are made of wax suck the wax along with the bug (true story), pieces of napkin (musician earplugs) and dirt out of your ears. It really does work, but it makes your ears too clean so you have to wear earplugs for a few days after.
I can imagine that the second practice resulted in an attempt to cure earwax build-up by the first method.
One guy says to his friend, "No! I told you to take the candle and stick it in your ear! Your EAR!"
Too funny.
That pic cracked me up.
Rinda, all I gotta say to this one is one great big *SNORT* - lol. Toooo funny.
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