Abstract

Background: Earwax constitutes a natural barrier against infection and provides a defense mechanism of the ear against water and insects. This study aimed to determine the community awareness about ear care and to show the commonly used methods in keeping ear hygiene and ear self-cleaning practice among Saudi adolescents in northern Saudi Arabia.
Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected Saudi adolescents in northern Saudi Arabia. A predesigned questionnaire was used to study the demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding self-ear cleaning.
Results: The mean age of the participants was 23 (±6.1) years and 62.4% were male. Most of the participants (93.1%) were aware about and practiced ear self-cleaning regularly. The desire of removing earwax was the most popular reason of self-ear cleaning (41.55%). Other reasons included hygiene (34.3%), feeling of itchiness (16.5%), and removal of dirt (2.1%). Cotton buds were the most common tools used by students (77.7%), whereas 11.2% used tissue, and 2.4% used a key.
Conclusion: Most of the participants (93.1%) were aware about and practiced self-ear cleaning regularly. However, further large-scale studies to assess the knowledge about safe ear self-cleaning practice are recommended, in addition to health education of the public about this important issue.

Key words: Ear self-cleaning, ear hygiene, ear infection