Scratched ear canal...

Question

So yesterday morning I woke up with blood all over my pillow, comforter, and hands. The blood was coming from my left ear. I immediately went to the hospital to have my left ear checked. What happened was that the other day I was cleaning my ear with a Q-tip, and I got bumped and it was shoved to far in and scratched my ear canal where there are a lot of blood vessels. There was pain when it happened, but there's no longer pain, just bleeding. Well, now (sorry to be graphic) there's only dried blood like a scab is in my ear. The doctor said that there's blood on my eardrum and that it will just take time to heal. My hearing is temporarily affected. SO... My question is... has this ever happened to any of you, and if so, how long did the healing take?

Answer 1

All this ear cleanliness stuff is more Obsessive Compulsive disorder insanity from the Victorian times that unfortunately set into our modern world. Your not really meant to clean your ears too much as its a delicate shaped structure and it needs oil and wax to lubricate it. You simply ended up damaging your ear drum. Sometimes cleaning also leads to Otitis Externa where the ear gets infected from the Q tips wiping away the protective oil and it gets seriously red and hot. Happened to me once...ouch !

Answer 2

yeah, do this, put your thumb and forefinger, about half a centimeter away from the qtip head. that way, you can't go deep enough. use only two q tips per time, and don't make a habit of it. its bad for you.