What is the purpose for ear wax

How to Clean a Cat’s Ears

http://www.dailypuppy.com/articles/p/earwax-buildup-in-kids/2c910b23-d105-2a2d-e9f1-d5ed7558eb1e

It is important to keep your cat free of ear infections and ear mites. Follow these steps to clean your feline’s ears without damaging an eardrum or lacerating the ear canal. Read More

What is Ear Wax?

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5436405_ear-wax-come-out-ear.html

The proper name for ear wax is cerumen. Ear wax “serves as a self-cleaning agent with protective, lubricating and antibacterial properties,” according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology. It’s a secretion produced by the bod…

Where does ear wax come from?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090119071459AAoIhxb

It comes from the ear, but it also plays an important role in the human ear canal, assisting in cleaning and lubrication, and also provides some protection from bacteria, fungi, and insects. Excess or impacted cerumen can press against the …

Related Questions Answered on Y!Answers

What creates ear wax, and what is the purpose of ear wax?

Q:

A: Ear wax is a sticky liquid secreted by cerumen glands. It isn’t really wax in the ‘candle wax’ sense (paraffin). Skin contains many tiny glands whose sole purpose is to secrete a variety of substances. Sebaceous glands, for example, secrete sebum, which gives skin its greasy quality. Sweat is also produced by microscopic glands. Cerumen glands are found only in the skin of the ear canals. It traps anything foreign that flies, crawls, or is blown into the ear canals. Dirt, tiny bits of plant material, small insects, bacteria, and so forth are immobilized by wax. Think of wax as the sticky stuff on a No Pest Strip. The primary purpose of ear wax is to protect your ear canal and ear drum from such foreign materials. Ear wax can cause hearing loss, pain, and cough. Hearing loss occurs when wax completely blocks the ear canal. This prevents sound waves from easily reaching the ear drum, in exactly the same way that ear plugs (or a strategically-positioned finger) block sound. Even a small amount of wax, if wedged between the ear drum and the ear canal wall, reduces the ability of the ear drum to conduct sound. Some people form very hard wax, which can cause pain by putting pressure on sensitive ear canal walls. Finally, since the ear canal shares some of the same nerves which give sensation to the throat, ear wax can provoke a “tickle in the throat” which can then lead to cough.

Not to be gross, but what’s the purpose for nose boogers & ear wax? Why is it necessary to grow?

Q: & then we always have to clean it up in order to be able to hear better & breathe more properly. I also wonder what’s the purpose for women to have pubic hairs if we must shave it all the time. & why do we have nails if we have to clip them all the time? I wonder if it would be useful to invent an electric nail clipper device, so it can be easier. Not sure if it’s already invented or not.

A: Hi question queen,nose boogers are simply the dried up form of secretion from your nose. Our skins exude oil and other stuff, it just happens that in our noses they tend to clog up unlike our normal skin where they slough off or rub off very easily. If you wash your nose regularly you wouldn’t find too many nose boogers.Sometimes our nose exude other stuff besides the oils – like when we have a cold, it would exude slightly more watery stuff – these are usually in response to potential “invasion” by foreign bodies (or what the bodies think may be bugs and such) – this “watery” liquid which dries rather quickly inside our noses help to deliver antibodies that can combat the potential pathogens, When everything dries up – you get boogers.Similarly for ear wax. If left to its own devices, the skin cells in the inner walls of our ear tunnel will happily exude their oils, these would collect dirt (or dead cells) and they start to clump. Strangely, unlike the noses, regular cleaning with water doesn’t really help in maintaining less ear wax (in fact it generally triggers more waxing) – the main problem ofcourse is residual water left inside the tunnel. It’s pretty hard to dry up (unlike the situation in our noses where air flow is consistently moving in and out) – our ear tunnel is closed on the inner end making air flow there rather restricted – somehow our cells in the tunnel prefer to maintain a certain state of “oiliness” – so it has a tendency to exude more oil when it find itself in a generally wet state.You don’t really need to shave your pubic hair – it’s more a social norm rather than a biological need to do so. Pubic hairs are a carry over of some stuff our previous genetic ancestors had – you must remember in really pre-historic times there weren’t any clothings, in fact in general it’s the hairier animals that survive better.Nails are again another carry over from our ancestors – they are equivalent to claws – just that currently we don’t really find them too useful. But nails are useful for scratching, marking on stuff etc.Are there electric nail clippers? – I believe so – you might want to see US patent number 4847994 – someone invented what they called the “Remotely actuated toe nail clipper”.

Exactly what purpose does ear wax serve?

Q:

A: Earwax, also known by the medical term cerumen, is a yellowish, waxy substance secreted in the ear canal of humans and many other mammals. It plays an important role in the human ear canal, assisting in cleaning and lubrication, and also provides some protection from bacteria, fungi, and insects. Excess or impacted cerumen can press against the eardrum and/or occlude the external auditory canal and impair hearing.