Study: Q-tips Can Cause Hearing Loss

DETROIT (WWJ) - A new warning has been issued regarding  Q-tips and cotton swabs. A new Henry Ford Hospital study shows that Q-tip use can result in a ruptured eardrum, and hearing loss.

Study co-author Ilaaf Darrat said two cases involved people who used the cotton swabs on the outside of the ear, and inadvertently jabbed them in.

Both had holes in the eardrum.

"They also resulted in complete hearing loss. They injured their actual nerve of hearing, basically. And one patient actually injured the nerve that moves her face," Darrat told WWJ Newsradio 950.

Darrat said Q-tips cause other problems as well.

"Some people get ear infection because they scratch the inside of their ear with the Q-tip. So, there's even minor reasons why we even don't recommend people using them gently on the outside of their ear, because they could get a really bad ear infection from it," she said.

Darrat said the good news is that in 97 percent of the cases she studied -- the eardrum healed on its own.