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Oil ear people, really too hard!
The ears are oily, the ear feces are wet and viscous, and every time you take off the headphones, the sticky lump on them makes people almost die on the spot...
Why is there such a thing as oil ear "one of the most hated bugs in the human body"? Is it really okay to take the greasy ears? Don't worry, just look at it and you'll know
Why are there oil ears?
Ear feces (cerumen) is the secretion product of the cerumen sweat glands, which can be divided into wet (oily) and dry.
Dry ear droppings, which lack cerumen secretion, are dry and brittle, and range in color from light gray to brownish gray. Conversely, the cerumen secretes vigorous wet ear droppings that are usually moist, viscous, and dark in color.
Oil ear is most commonly found in Africans and Caucasians; dry ear is most commonly found in East Asian yellows (especially Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese) and Native Americans.
(The black part is the oil ear gene, and the gray part is the dry ear gene)
Oil ear does bring a certain annoyance, making people envious of the freshness of dry ear, but few people know that oil ear was originally the "main palace", and dry ear was the "concubine" of later Na.
Our human ancestors were first oil ears, and due to genetic mutations in the process of continuous evolution, dry ears appeared (just like people with fox odor are normal, people without fox odor are actually genetic mutations).
The "cold adaptation hypothesis" shows that the ancestral environment of East Asians is much colder than that of Africans, and in order to adapt to the cold climate, the ancestors of East Asians have genetic mutations, reducing sweating and reducing the secretion of large sweat glands.
The cerumen gland belongs to one of the large sweat glands, and the secretion capacity of the cerumen gland decreases, so there are dry ears.
Do oil ears have fox smell?
Our sweat glands can be divided into large sweat glands and small sweat glands, fox odor is the axillary sweat gland (apical sweat gland) secretion is vigorous, sweat is degraded by bacteria after the odor, armpit sweat a lot of sweat and clothing dyeing.
Oil ear, on the other hand, is formed by the cerumen glands in the sweat glands that secrete vigorously, increase oil, and mix dust dander.
Both oil ear and fox odor are mainly regulated by the 538th base on the ABCC11 gene in the middle of chromosome 16, so fox odor and oil ear usually exist at the same time, and people with fox odor generally have oil ears, but people with oil ears do not necessarily have fox odor.
Geographical distribution of fox odor mutant genes
(Blue = fox stink, yellow = no fox stink)
Will oil ears be inherited?
Oil and dry ears conform to Mendelian laws of inheritance, and whether you are oil ears or dry ears is genetically determined.
G/A and G/G genotypes are wet (oil ear), which is dominantly inherited like dimples and double eyelids, while A/A is dry (dry ear) and is recessive.
That is, if the father is oil ear (G/A, G/G) and the mother is dry ear (A/A), then the child may be oil ear or dry ear (oil ear probability high).
Both parents are oil ears, the child has the larger may be oil ear, the smaller may be dry ear; both parents are dry ears, then the child must be dry ear.
Can the oil ear pluck the ear? How is it cared for?
Cerumen, that is, ear feces, formed in the outer 2/3 of the ear canal, is a normal substance and physiological phenomenon present in the external ear canal, with protective, moist, antibacterial and other effects, but also through the usual chewing food, talking, coughing and other behaviors on their own.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, oil ears and dry ears do not need to be processed, and it is not necessary to use cotton swabs to dig the ears deep into the ear canal to avoid pushing the ear droppings into the deep ear canal and causing ear canal obstruction.
If you feel that the oil ear is really uncomfortable or affects the appearance, you can occasionally gently wipe the opening of the external auditory canal.
(The green part is cerumen, located 2/3 outside the ear canal)
Otitis externally, narrowing of the ear canal, trauma to the ear canal, the use of hearing aids or earplugs, or the use of cotton swabs to dig the ear canal deep into the ear canal, etc., may cause obstruction of the ear canal, resulting in cerumen embolism.
Cerumen embolization often leads to a range of consequences: tinnitus, fullness, itching, earache, discharge, odor and cough, and even reversible hearing loss.
Studies have shown that cerumen embolism is present in 10% of children, 5% of healthy adults, and more than 30% of the elderly and stunted population.
(The cerumen is completely stuffed in the ear canal)
If cerumen embolism is repeated, go to the hospital's OTOL department to see if treatment is needed.
Treatment methods include observation, dissolution with a cerumen dissolver, rinsing, manual removal in addition to rinsing, and combination methods (e.g., earwax is dissolved and then rinsed; rinsed and then manually removed).
Manual removal includes removal using a spatula, probe, hook, forceps, or under direct observation of a headlamp, otoscope, or microscope.
Finally do a little survey, are you oily or dry? Did you have any troubles? The comment area goes to a wave ~ by the way, click in the watch + share, help the friends around the oil ear to solve the trouble ~
〔Reference〕
[1] Toyoda Y, Gomi T,Nakagawa H, et al. Diagnosis of human axillary osmidrosis by genotyping of the human ABCC11 gene: clinical practice and basic scientific evidence[J]. BioMed research international, 2016, 2016.
[2] Nakano M, Miwa N,Hirano A, et al. A strong association of axillary osmidrosis with the wet earwax type determined by genotyping of the ABCC11 gene[J]. BMC genetics, 2009,10(1): 1-5.
[3] Ohashi J, Naka I, Tsuchiya N. The impact of natural selection on an ABCC11 SNP determining earwax type. Mol Biol Evol. 2011 Jan;28(1):849-57.
[4] Schwartz S R, Magit A E, Rosenfeld R M, et al. Clinical practice guideline (update): earwax (cerumen impaction)[J]. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, 2017, 156(1_suppl): S1-S29.
[5] Horton G A, Simpson M T W, Beyea M M, et al. Cerumen management: an updated clinical review and evidence-based approach for primary care physicians[J]. Journal of primary care& community health, 2020, 11: 2150132720904181.