'Ear candling'?

[bluebanded goby]

A fellow diver and I were comparing notes on how we manage our sinuses and ears. He mentioned that he had had his "ears candled." When I asked about this, he expanded as follows:

"Ear candling is exclusively an outer ear thing that is accomplished through the aid of a helper. We use an aluminum pie plate with a hole on the middle, through which the ear candle is placed. The candles are available from health food stores and are about a foot long and hollow, mostly made of bees wax. The candle is inserted into the ear and burned down until you feel the heat usually this is about 2/3rds down. I get this done about 2 to 3 times a year, and the most revolting stuff is sucked out and ends up in the unburned base of the candle."

Is anyone familiar with this? Is it safe? My existing regimen for my outer ears is to use a few drops of mineral oil to avoid wax buildup, and an alcohol-vinegar mix after dives to kill the micro-critters. Occasionally when I've gotten major wax buildup I've gone in to my doctor's nurse and gotten my ears washed out with a big syringe. Is ear candling a good alternative treatment? Thanks for any input.

 

[ladycute1]

First, let me say, I am not a medical professional, and I'm sure one of the Docs will provide a thorough response.

I have heard of candling, and as I understand it, there is no evidence that supports this as an effective medical treatment.

 

[bluebanded goby]

Thanks for the reply. The only way that I'd see that it would be a treatment would be in drawing wax and other stuff out of the outer ear. However, regular doses of mineral oil and the very occasional syringe washing (if ever needed) seem to me as though they'd be as effective and would be safer.

 

[ladycute1]

As I recall, I saw a demonstration by the TV Doc Dean Edell, where he took two ear candles. He used one on a volunteer and then he cut it open and you could see all this 'stuff' in the center of the candle.

Then, he took the un-used candle and cut it open.... It had even more 'stuff' --

 

[GP]

I tried the candles once and they didn't help at all. I ended up going to the doctor and getting my ears flushed out with the syringe. The last time I had a problem I ended up getting an ear infection because I kept trying to clear them myself with drops and home remedies for a week and pretty soon so much moisture was trapped in my inner ear that it became infected and took about a week to clear up after my ears were cleared at the doctor. I think the best solution is to clean you're ears regularly especially if you are prone to a lot of wax buildup.

 

[BillP]

Ear Candling is patently ridiculous. What a waste of money for the gullible.

Take a look at:

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/candling.html

Ear candling is not only completely ineffective, it can also be dangerous.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entr...eve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8849790&dopt=Abstract

And if you want to know what I really think, I'll be glad to tell you ;-)

HTH,

Bill

P.S. You might want to direct your fellow diver friend to that Quackwatch site. It has lots of good info on a lot of different health-related topics. He might benefit from reading through the whole thing.

http://www.quackwatch.com/

 

[bluebanded goby]

Bill, thanks for the comments and the pointer to the Quackwatch site. Based on the information there, I'll pass on ear candling and will stick to mineral oil.

For what it's worth, as a medical consumer I find the Quackwatch site (I've run across it a few times before) to be pretty firmly on the hard-edged anti-alternative end of the spectrum, which is to say that there may be some wheat it's tossing out with the chaff. But my own approach is to evaluate any idea on a case-by-case basis (and there's a lot of chaff out there along with the wheat!). In this case, I'm satisfied that ear candling ain't for me. Thanks again.

 

[BillP]

Hi bluebanded goby:

Glad to help. For what it's worth, I haven't read the entire site but as a medical professional I personally find the Quackwatch site to be reasonably evenhanded and very informative. I don't think it's "anti-alternative" per se, but rather anti-unproven-quackery-hype in all its forms. When a treatment has a valid application, they are quick to say so. But when it does not have any validity or an otherwise sound treatment is being misused, they point it out.

For example, I am a General Surgeon. I make my living operating on people. Gallbladder removal is the most common operation I do. I help feed my family and pay my bills taking out gallbladders. It is a safe and effective procedure when used properly. And yet Quackwatch has a section on gallbladder removal on their "Needless Surgery" page.

And I agree completely with them.

Even though it directly affects my potential livelihood.

I don't read their warnings about gallbladder removal as being anti-surgery, just anti-bad surgery. There's a great deal of quackery out there that medical consumers need to be aware of, even in so-called "conventional" medicine. IMHO, the Quackwatch site is a very good place to go to get an injection of a healthy dose of skepticism before you partake of an unproven, unnecessary, or otherwise questionable treatment.

Take care,

Bill

http://www.quackwatch.com/cgi-bin/m...ml/04ConsumerEducation/crhsurgery.html?82#mfs

 

[bluebanded goby]

Now that I read through the Quackwatch site, I find that I agree with most of its skepticism about the variety of sometimes very strange alternative treatments out there. There are a couple of more benign areas (anti-oxidants and a few staple herbal treatments, for example) where I have the impression that the site's author seems a bit hard-edged.

On a note more related to diving, I see that Quackwatch has an area under development called "Hyperbaric Medicine: What Works and What Does Not?":

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/HBOT/hmindex.html

I was aware that one of the hyperbaric docs in our area, for example, puts people recovering from cosmetic surgery in the chamber to speed their healing. But I didn't know this field attracted treatments that are regarded as dubious. The site's area on "Controversial and improper uses" (of hyperbaric therapy) hasn't yet been populated, but I'll be interested to see what goes there.

 

[scubadoc]

Hi BBG:

Here is a web page that gives the indications for HBOT as approved by the UHMS and paid for by medicare.
http://www.scuba-doc.com/HBOInd.htm

Here is a site that offers critical evaluation of treatments of conditions with HBOT. http://www.hboevidence.com/

Written by Dr. Michael Bennett, Director of the Hyperbaric Unit at New South Wales, in Oz - it attempts to bring some truth and logic to the field.

By the way, I agree 1000% with BillP about alternative treatments and anecdotal evidence. ("It helped Joe Blow- therefore it will help all people with Joe Blow's complaints".

Candling is next to burning feathers, muttering incantations and beating tom-toms.

Ern Campbell, MD
Diving Medicine Online
http://www.scuba-doc.com/

Ten Foot Stop Newsletter
http://www.scuba-doc.com/sbscrb.html