How is earwax formed

Ears are our very important auditory organs, so people pay a lot of attention to them. Every one of us, regardless of gender, age or status, has "earwax" in our ears. In the lives of many people, digging earwax is a very pleasant thing, but how is earwax formed? Many people do not understand this. In this article, let us take a look at some common sense about earwax.

In fact, "earwax" is actually earwax, which is also called cerumen in medicine. Usually, earwax is a kind of light yellow, waxy debris. Some earwax is oily or hard and large. So how is earwax formed? It turns out that there is a section of skin in the ear (the 1/3 cartilage segment outside the external auditory canal) that is different from the skin elsewhere on the body. There is a modified sweat gland called the cerumen gland, whose structure is somewhat similar to the sweat glands of the skin. The skin of the external auditory canal, like the skin elsewhere, also has a sebaceous gland that secretes a special type of oil.

From a physiological point of view, these secretions in the cerumen gland are discharged from time to time through the opening. At first, the secretions just coming out of the cerumen glands look a bit like melted wax. They mix with the oil secreted by the sebaceous glands to form a very thin layer attached to the surface of the skin. These original earwax are mixed with the dust in the ear canal and the fallen skin debris. After drying, they become small pieces of light yellow loose and thin flaky earwax, which accumulate in the ear canal.

Some people have very much secretion from the cerumen and sebaceous glands, and the secretion is a brown, oily and sticky substance that accumulates in the outer part of the eye before it dries. Some even flow out of the ear, and some condense into clumps. These are collectively called soft earwax, commonly known as "oily ears", and medically called oily cerumen. Some people have particularly strong cerumen secretion, and the earwax cannot be discharged. It gradually dries up and gathers into dark brown lumps, which are sometimes as hard as stones and tightly block the external auditory canal. It is commonly known as hard earwax, and is called cerumen embolism in medicine. If you find cerumen blockage, especially when water enters the ear canal and the cerumen swells causing stuffiness, hearing loss or even ear pain, you should consult a specialist. Do not dig it out randomly to avoid causing ear canal inflammation.

After reading the introduction in this article, you should know how earwax is formed. Generally speaking, it is normal to have some earwax in our ears. As long as you maintain good habits and clean it in time, it will be fine. However, everyone must be careful when cleaning earwax and never hurt their ears.