Hopi Ear Candling

[hopiear]

Has anyone had this done?

If so, why did you have it and were your aims achieved?

Was thinking of giving this a go to see if it helps reduce snoring so if anyone has any comments on this (good or bad) I'd be interested to know.

Thanks

Absolute waste of time and money... Kinda...

It doesn't really do anything for your ears, doesn't remove wax etc.
but I found it kinda relaxing it felt nice. I wouldn't have it done a second time tbh.

I'd Google it if I were you.

I have done it on my DS and my BF as they had blocked ears with wax. It is really easy to do so I wouldn't pay for someone else to do it if you've got a partner or friend who could do it on you. I have no idea if it helps for snoring, so can't help with that.

It did remove wax for my DS and BF. The candles are pretty cheap to buy.

There’s no scientific proof that it works. People will claim it removed their ear wax because they have been shown wax after the treatment but it’s the candle wax they see.
This article refutes the claims in a rather entertaining way: www.hearingaidknow.com/hopi-ear-candles

If snoring is a big problem, have you been checked for sleep apnoea?

Absolutely this. Don’t bother.

It cannot physically do what it claims and the risk of burning yourself is too high to make it worth a try for my money...

This is completely untrue!

MissMaple82 are there studies that prove they work? Genuinely asking.

My sister works in audiology (service, not sales, so no vested interest) and says ear candles do more harm than good.

I do my own. I find it relaxing and find it helps when my sinuses feel blocked but I don't use it for ear wax. Obviously you have to be super careful you don't set your head on fire 😂
If compacted ear wax is a problem, get microsuctioning done.

I had it done once, felt nice but I don’t think it really did anything. Lots of people have it done at the salon I used as they can’t get syringing/suction done through their GP.

That's nice.

It didn't..
Research has shown that they do exactly nothing.
But I'm glad the placebo effect worked for them.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2231549/#!po=37.5000

Linked too study:

scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Laryngoscope&title=Ear+candles%E2%80%94efficacy+and+safety&author=DR+Seely&author=SM+Quigley&author=AW+Langman&volume=106&issue=10&publication_year=1996&pages=1226-9&pmid=8849790&#d=gs_qabs&t=1650665762565&u=%23p%3DFkcpwo8Uc6kJ

Quote:
"Tympanometric measurements in an ear canal model demonstrated that ear candles do not produce negative pressure."

Someone gave my flatmate some of these at uni and she tried them out on us. She opened up the candles afterwards and all we marvelled at the gunk that came out of our ears.

Then we stuck another one in a pint glass and burnt it down and the exact same amount of gunk appeared.

Nah.

No. No study has ever shown any evidence that they work.

And the Hopi people have asked for others to stop using their name for this bullshit.

Why would they reduce snoring?

Maybe if you put one up each nostril <not a medic>

Here's NHS advice on snoring: www.nhs.uk/conditions/snoring/

I echo other posters' comments about ear candling being utter hooey. Please don't give them any money or let anyone burn candles in your ear.

To be honest I expect you probably wouldn't come to that much harm (I don't think they're all that drip-y) but why grease the skids?

They don't remove wax from your ears (if anything they're more likely to deposit it!), moreover they can't remove it - so the small risk of waxing your eardrums is not really worth it given they have zero therapeutic value. They don't balance anything in your ears either. Your wallet will feel lighter though.

I agree that the Hopi Tribal Council were none too happy with the Hopi name being used to flog this guff en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_candling

If you see any therapist (or organisation selling these candles) making any health claims for ear candling you can report the claims to the Advertising Standards Authority using this form www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html

Jo

I see someone has already shared some decent links to studies from NCBI and Google Scholar (mostly peer reviewed journals). If you'd like to see what can go wrong, have a look at pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=ear+candling

(Pubmed includes MEDLINE, which is the largest database of medical articles in the world. There are over 20 million items on there, mostly written by clinicians and experts in their fields.)

WebMD also has a to-the-point article at www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/ear-infection/what-is-ear-candling and Professor Edzard Ernst, who has many years of academic research on complementary therapies has an article at edzardernst.com/2014/08/ear-candles-a-triumph-of-ignorance-over-science/. He's not against complementary therapies as such, he just likes them to be evidence-based.

Despite (or perhaps because of) training as a massage therapist some years ago, ear candling is not a treatment I'd go for.

Dont know what this is but if it involves ear wax then it sounds disgusting 🤢

It's incredible how many people still consider snake-oil remedies in this day and age.
Think about this 'remedy' logically. Hopi wax candles are made of...wax! Wax melts when heated. So voila, wax comes out of your ear and people think this is their own earwax...

You’ve clearly never watched Audiology Associates on You Tube then …

It is as effective and scientifically sound as homeopathy.

Press a lit one against someone snoring and they'll stop snoring PDQ!

My dh had a baby blocked ear, I could see the wax when I looked in, totally blocked. Our annoying neighbour swears by these and I said no we wouldn't be sticking something so stupid in his ear, my husband however is softer then me and she persuaded him to let her give it a go.

After she was like "look at all the wax that has come out!" Feeling very smug with the pile of yellowish wax sitting there. Only the wax blocking my husbands ear was black and you could look in and see it hadn't moved at all

😅