Zhimei's girlfriend has been an oil ear since she was a child, and if she doesn't take it out for a few days, she will have oily ear, and even sometimes the ears are oily to the touch. Because of this, she always deliberately keeps the angle when she talks to others, afraid that others will see her "dirty" ears.
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
For this reason, she was very troubled, and she always doubted whether she was sick.
You should also find that some people have "oily" earwax, and some people have "dry" earwax.
Dry earwax contains less grease, is usually white or egg-yellow, crispy, and flaky in shape, like breadcrumbs.
The earwax of "oil" is also called "wet cerumen", because it contains more oil, dark yellow, sticky, like salted egg yolk.
Why is it that only some people are "oil ears"?
In fact, a long time ago, when the ancestors of Asians were still in Africa, "oil ears" were very common in the population.
Only later, in the process of human migration to Asia, some people's ABCC11 gene on chromosome 16 mutated [1], becoming a new "de-oiling" gene, resulting in the cerumen gland that produces ear feces to reduce oil secretion, and ear feces become "dry".
(Image credit: Steven M. Carr, Genetix)
Scientists speculate that the ABCC11 mutation may have been intended to adapt to colder climates [2,3].
In other words, most of the people with "dry ears" are actually "mutants".
With the continuous migration and mixed blood of humans, the mutation of the gene spread more and more widely in Northeast Asia, and eventually, dry earwax was the only one, and currently, 80%-95% of East Asians are dry earwax [5]. On the mainland, the further south you go, in addition to encountering the bright sun, you can also encounter the growing "oil ear" family.
Europe and the United States and other places are different! Europeans and Africans have the highest proportion of "oil ears", with only 0–3% dry earwax [5].
In South Asia, Central Asia, and the Pacific Islands, the two types of earwax are more evenly distributed [5].
Why put oil ears and fox stink together?
This is because the original ABCC11 gene is also known as the "fox odor gene", and its expression makes the "source of odor production" sweat glands excessively secrete sweat.
But sweat is not smelly, but the protein, oil, etc. contained in it are the foods that bacteria that colonize the surface of the skin like, and the more sweat, the more products that bacteria decompose, the easier it is to produce a strong sweat odor.
(Image source: Pokemon)
After the abccemia gene is mutated, the secretion of the sweat glands is reduced, and fox odor is less easily induced.
However, as mentioned earlier, this genetic mutation occurs mainly in East Asia, and in most white and black regions, the "fox stink gene" is still the top stream.
So in regions like Europe, America, and Africa, most people have body odors and oil ears, while in East Asia the opposite is true.
But this does not mean that there are "oil ears", it must be fox odor, because the incidence of fox odor is also regulated by other genes and environmental factors.
People with oily ears and no fox smell abound.
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
Although many people with oil ears think that ear feces look dirty, the abandoned ear is actually secretly protecting you.
They can block the invasion of foreign bodies from the outside world, protect the skin and eardrum of the external ear canal, and are the "doormen" that mammals have been difficult to evolve.
Some people are worried that there is too much ear feces, in fact, the ears also have a self-cleaning function, we eat, drink water, cough and other open mouth exercises, we can make most of the ear rounded out.
Even wet cerumen has fluidity, like pouring ketchup, which at first sticks a little bit to the bottle, but if you shake it (move too much), the ketchup (ear droppings) will fall out.
So most people don't need to pluck their ears.
There are also some people who do not pull out the ears to feel itchy, in fact, itchy ears most of the time is not the fault of ear feces, itching may be inside the ears with fungi, mites, or eczema, specific or have to go to the hospital, please see a professional otolaryngologist.
Pulling out the ear not only does not solve the itching of the ear, but may hurt the skin of the external ear canal and induce infection. Milder cotton swabs can also push the ear droppings deeper, preventing them from "escaping."
(Source: Network)
After years of pulling it out, the cotton swab may also "compact" the ear droppings.
(Source: The Paper)
Even if there is really a "cerumen embolism", you can't clean the ear scoop and cotton swab at home, or let the doctor clean it with the blessing of professional equipment, in order to clean it safely!
Usually, we just need to wash the outside of the ear "hole" when we take a bath, and then gently clean it with a cotton swab.
If you really want to dig, it is recommended to gently rub it at the mouth of the hole and scratch it.
Strong, it will really be in vain!
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
*The content of this article is a popularization of health knowledge and cannot be used as a specific diagnosis and treatment recommendation, nor is it a substitute for face-to-face consultation by a practicing physician, for reference only.
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