How Hopi Ear Candles work and safety measures.
Do they really work?
The short answer is a big NO.
However the ear candles have been used in alternative medicine for decades, and their popularity persists despite of the very obvious dangers involved in setting fire to an object so close to your head and hair, let alone being in your ear!
They are very often made from a long hollow tube of cotton which has been soaked in wax (often beeswax), different herbal flavours, and sometimes honey. The candle is inserted into the ear when the patient is lying down on their side.
The candle is then lit at one end, which creates a ‘chimney effect’ whereby warm air rises, causing a vacuum that loosens the ear wax.
There is very little evidence of Hopi ear candles actually working
Users point to the impressive debris that remains afterwards as proof of efficacy, but most of that debris is made from what’s left of the wax- soaked tube after it has burnt through!
The NICE website states “That the use of ear candles has no benefit in the management of earwax removal and may result in serious injury.” (https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/earwax/management/management/