Ear Candling

[Pompal 09.]

I have heard lots of negative comments about ear candling here on this forum. My experience is that its very effective and my clients really seem to love it, as well as the benefits it brings.
Dennis

 

[VICKI C]

Maybe you can explain to me this: How is this within the MT's scope of practice? It's not manipulating soft tissue. It even involves an orfice, which from what I understand is a no-no t018 for MT's in TX (even in the mouth with a glove for TMJ stuff.) Perhaps your part of CA says differently.
But, I suppose this forum isn't limited to MT's, it does say Massage AND HOLISTIC THERAPIES. So maybe my question is a non-issue if you're not an MT and just interested in ear wax and fire t108 t113

 

[PUNTER]

I don't do ear candling on clients as I do not have liability coverage for it. : I am not sure if they are concerned about the orifice aspect or the fire aspect.

However, my son has always been prone to bad ear infections. Now, if he thinks one is coming, I ear candle him and it prevents the ear infection.

Works for us!

 

[pictureperfect]

I'm a massage therapist and not "qualified" in ear candling (though how qualified you need to be to hold something gently in the opening to someone's ear, I've no idea!). I also have no idea if/how they work.
But I do know that I have tried them on my wife when her ears/sinuses etc have given her trouble, and she has said she felt better afterwards.
I'm told there are training course for ear candling. I just followed the instructions in the leaflet that came with them.

 

[Mount Analogue]

From everything I've read, seen and experienced, ear candling is quackery. The minute amount of suction formed by a burning candle (even an ear candle) is not enough to draw ANYTHING from one's ear.

And yet we actually have a physician here who told a friend of mine to try ear candles because she couldn't see him. His ear had been impacted for a week and he had gone to a local audiologist that couldn't help him after several attempts with irrigation and vacuum. Finally, he went to an ENT who was able, after about an hour, to dislodge the impacted wax.

Ear candling - what a joke!

 

[ahanda korama]

BW Guy,I have to agree with you 100% on this one t023 - I was "chosen" to recieve a candling session once--my ears were clogged for 2 days,until I went to my poor doctor,who was able to successfully flush my ears. Even if I was covered by my liability insurance to do this,I would not ever do this! This is why I choose to practice massage,something that actually has proven results and works! To each his own,but this is simply not for me!

Johnny :

 

[Pompal 09.]

I'd have to agree with the others that think ear candling "quackery." The only time I've experienced it in person my hubby was doing a comparison test ~ he had two of the same ear candles, one he made me use on him the other he just burned without putting it in an ear. Both of the candles looked identical when we cut them open.

Also ear candling can be dangerous...
from http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_098.html

As an otolaryngologist with 15 years' experience, I have had more than one occasion on which a victim of ear candling has presented to my office with excruciating symptoms caused by melted wax adhering to the eardrum. This often necessitates minor surgery and puts the patient's hearing at risk. In addition to debunking the efficacy of ear candling, you should mention the inherent danger to hearing. --C. Christopher Smith, MD, FACS, Dover, New Hampshire

 

[Passion (is sick)]

First we peered into Pat's ears with an otoscope, the familiar flashlight-type examining device. The poor guy had enough wax in there to make his own candles. We put him on the table, lit the candle, and stuck it in his ear in the prescribed manner. Then we watched, struggling to suppress the thought that we should also be chanting and maybe sacrificing small animals.

:biglaugh:

Hehehe! Great article, thanks for the link!!!

 

[cookingkay1955]

bad ear candling experience

I did ear candling once on a friend - after being shown how to do it and reading all of the directions.... I don't know what happened but the wax dripped into her ear and we were off to the emergency room and she had to have a minor surgery to get it out...

No more ear candling for me needless to say.

Julie Onofrio
http://www.thebodyworker.com

 

[Memphis Belle]

Ear candling has not only been proven to be very dangerous, it's also illegal in may places, such as Canada, and could result in the revocation of your license. I had a friend who was selling ear candles as a kit on EBAY. EBAY now refuses to allow her to sell her kits through them because of the FDA stand on ear candles. I guess EBAY could be fined if they allow illegal or non approved items to be sold on their site.

When I was taught how to do ear candling in school, our teacher cut open the candle after performing the technique on a student who had an ear infection. The teacher pointed to some waxy looking yellow stuff and said "That's the ear wax from her ears." Then she pointed to a bunch of powdery looking yellow stuff and said "That's ear infection."

I was pretty 'wow'ed and went home to try it on myself. I also had a little bit of an ear infection. Sure enouch, when I cut the candle open, there was the same waxy yellow stuff and powdery yellow stuff. I was suprised that I didn't feel like that much stuff came out of my ear. I didn't feel any different. When I get water in my ear and I allow it to drip out, even just a drop makes a huge difference in how my ear feels.

So, I tried the same experiment Pouka did. I burned another candle in a clean mug. Gee, turns out the mug had a pretty bad ear infection, too, because the same "stuff" was in that candle!

 

[DAVIS lax #36]

Gee, turns out the mug had a pretty bad ear infection, too, because the same "stuff" was in that candle!

t044

 

[malibutan]

Precisely! Thats why it not regulated-I will not endanger my license or let anyone near me with a lit candle to try to convince me to let them stick it my ear. No way! That's just too scary for me :evil:

Namaste'
Johnny

 

[[804]kennyy]

I do face and neck massage before I do ear candling (the natural paraffin candles are the best to me) and I've always had success with candling. One man came in unable to hear out of his ears because he has such trouble with wax build-up and after his session, both candles were literally full. He was amazed that he could even hear my water fountains. My son had a spider crawl in his ear when he was young (emergency room here we come) and when I candled his recently, I got a lot of old dark wax and yellow powder pulled out. I have gotten at least some dark wax from every candle treatment I've done with the exception of my Mother who had absolutely nothing...and I do mean when we cut it open it was totally empty. She didn't tell me before I candled her (Grr....) but she had an inner ear accident years before and said she doesn't produce wax in that ear. I've only been in business since October though, and have only done ear candling on about 20 people.

However, despite my success with it, after reading the responses on this thread about the danger of wax dripping into the client's ear requiring surgery to correct...and after calling my insurance company and being told ear candling is definately not covered...no more ear candling for me.