Cotton Buds and Tinnitus: How I Ruined My Ears

Hello, I am Kitty (19F), and I used to be addicted to scratching my ears with cotton buds. I started this habit in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown, when I was bored and stressed about my GCSEs. I never had any ear infections or itchiness from 2020 to 2022, but I still used cotton buds excessively. This resulted in cotton buds getting stuck in my ears several times, which could have caused serious damage to my hearing. My parents and my doctor warned me to stop using cotton buds, but I ignored them and continued to do it secretly.

In March 2023, I made a big mistake by leaving a cotton bud in my ear for months, hoping that no one would notice. This caused me to have a severe ear infection with unbearable pain that woke me up at night. I did not have tinnitus then, but I had to go to the AE and get a specialist to remove the cotton bud from near my eardrum. The operation was very painful, and my eardrum burst, causing pus to leak. After the operation, I had tinnitus for the first time, which was a whooshing sound in my ears. It went away after a few days of using Ciprofloxacin.

However, I still did not learn my lesson and used cotton buds again, even though my parents hid them from me. I also found Tinnitus Talk, where I read that cotton buds could cause tinnitus. I stopped using cotton buds for a while, but I switched to using bobby pins instead. On December 14, 2023, I scratched my ears too hard with a bobby pin, because they were itchy from an outer ear infection that I did not know I had. This triggered a loud ringing in both of my ears, which lasted for a few seconds and then became a low-pitched sound. I thought it would go away, but it did not. I am still suffering from it, and it has become worse.

 

This has got to be the most bizarre account of determined, self-inflicted tinnitus I have ever read!

Insane!

 

I feel incredibly sorry for this person because there's obviously a problem that requires treatment, in the form of counseling for OCD.

There is a well-known saying from ENTs: Don't put anything smaller in your ear than your elbow.

 

I hope you get better but you need to stop messing with your ears. Don't put another damned thing in either of them!