There are a few things that might be on your bingo card when you go to an ear, nose, and throat doctor for what might appear at first blush to be hearing issues.
What is likely not on there—and what one woman says her ENT found while examining her ears—is a clump of dog hair.
In a video that has drawn over 1.5 million views, content creator Karrah (@karrah_peden_tram) unlocks a new fear for many viewers. She recounts her experience of having an ENT pull a large clump of dog hair from her ear canal immediately after unearthing a large clump of earwax.
“I’m literally mortified,” she says in the video. “I just got back from the ENT. I went there because I thought I was losing hearing in my ear. So he goes in, and he’s looking at both ears, and first he starts with the one that was fine. And he goes, ‘Oh, one second,’ and starts digging around in there, pulls out a massive black mass of ear wax. Like it is disgusting and it is huge and it looks like it shouldn’t fit there.”
An unexpected find
This ball of wax came out of what was supposed to be her “healthy ear,” she says, leaving her unprepared for what was going to happen next.
“That was the healthy ear,” she says. “I was like, oh, gross, but cool. And then he moves on to the next one, and he’s like, ‘OK, there’s some more ear wax on this, it’s actually cemented on the ear drum, so this will take a minute.’”
The doctor then removed the earwax from Karrah’s “problem” ear.
“It’s very painful. Then he pulls that out, just equally as gross—much more painful though—and then he goes, ‘No way,’” Karrah recalls. “And then he goes, ‘Oh you’re not going to believe what I’m going to pull out next.’”
She definitely was not expecting him to pull out a large clump of dog hair, she says,
“So I’m dying inside, thinking it’s a bug, there’s a freaking bug in my ear,” she says. “[He] brings out tweezers, and it was so painful. He’s pulling really hard, and it’s right on my eardrum. A massive clump of dog hair. And he said it looked like somebody had put dog hair in my ear and then just like stuffed it down the canal. I can’t.”
@karrah_peden_tram Everyone should go get their ears checked and see what treasures hide inside #ent #ears #earwaxremoval #earwax #newfearunlocked #fyp #fy ♬ original sound – Karrah😛
The Daily Dot has reached out to Karrah via TikTok direct message regarding the video.
What is the correct way to clean your ears?
Generally, the safest way to clean your ears does not involve putting things like cotton swabs or tweezers in your own ears—it is best to leave this to the professionals.
There are several gentle ways to clean one’s ears, including using a damp cloth to wipe the exterior of the ear canal, soaking the ear with a mix of warm water and mineral oil, hydrogen peroxide or saline solution to loosen and remove wax buildup.
For those who think they might have a more impactful amount of buildup, a medical professional can irrigate your ear and us forceps to remove any potential blockages as described by the poster.
Viewers commiserate
Some viewers commented on the video that the poster was essentially living their dream, as they vigilantly keep an eye on their ear health and have not found any gross but interesting blockages.
“I use q tips all the time and I’ve had my ears checked but they never find anything and it’s disappointing because I want the dramatic moment of being able to hear way better than before,” one commenter wrote.
“I am embarrassed to admit I watch ear cleaning videos on TT & YouTube,” another said. “It’s as addictive as pimple popping. Now, I’m watching horse & cow hoove (Ferrier) too. I’m surprised he, ‘pulled’, they irrigate.”
“My husband had to go get his ears cleaned out and I made him schedule for a day I could go and then proceeded to tell the dr how excited I was so he showed me everything he pulled out,” a further user recalled. “10/10.”
Several other viewers shared that they either work in an ENT office and have seen similar things come out of people’s ears, or have a doctor who has shared that they make observations about the contents of patients’ earwax.
“I work at an ENT clinic, we see ALL KINDS of things in people’s ears… I’ve seen two impacted dog hair cases, a roach on the eardrum, crafting supplies, sticks, rocks… the ear is a wild place,” one commented.
“My kids pediatrician likes to guess what kind of dogs you have by the dog hairs he sees in kids ears lol,” another shared.
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