Professor Yang Xichuan, Original Professor of Xichuan Xiaoliang Dermatology
| Planning/Editing: Fanny Editor: yellow& Yayun Audit: Li Yun
People with sharp ears, it’s too difficult to be a real wife!
My ears are oily and my earwax is wet and sticky. Every time I take off my headphones, the sticky lump on them makes people almost die on the spot …
In the end, why is there an oil ear, one of the most annoying bugs in the human body? Is there really nothing you can do with greasy ears? Don’t worry, just look and you’ll know ~
Why are there oil ears?
Earwax (cerumen) is the secretion product of cerumen sweat gland, which can be divided into wet (oily) and dry.
Dry earwax, which lacks earwax secretion, is dry and fragile, and its color ranges from light gray to brownish gray. On the contrary, wet earwax with strong cerumen secretion is usually wet, sticky and dark in color.
Auricularia auricula is most common in Africans and white Europeans; Dry ears are most common among yellow people in East Asia (especially Koreans, Chinese and Japanese) and Native Americans.
(The black part is the oil ear gene, and the gray part is the dry ear gene)
Oil ear does bring some troubles, which makes people envy the freshness of dry ear, but few people know that oil ear was originally a "palace" and dry ear was a "concubine" later.
Our human ancestors were all oil ears at the earliest, and dry ears appeared because of gene mutation in the process of continuous evolution (just as people with body odor are normal, people without body odor are actually genetic mutations).
The "cold adaptation hypothesis" shows that the environment of the ancestors of East Asians is much colder than that of Africans. In order to adapt to the cold climate, the ancestors of East Asians have gene mutations, which reduce sweating and sweat secretion.
The cerumen gland belongs to one of the apocrine glands, and the secretion ability of cerumen gland decreases, so there is dry ear.
Do you have body odor if you have oil ears?
Our sweat glands can be divided into apocrine glands and apocrine glands. Body odor is the odor emitted by axillary apocrine glands (apocrine sweat glands) after sweat is degraded by bacteria, which is manifested as peculiar smell, excessive sweating in armpits and clothes dyeing.
The auricularia auricula is formed by the exuberant secretion of cerumen gland in apocrine gland, increased oil and mixed dust and dander.
Both oil ear and body odor are mainly regulated by the 538th base of ABCC11 gene in the middle of chromosome 16, so body odor and oil ear usually coexist. People with body odor usually have oil ear, but people with oil ear do not necessarily suffer from body odor.
Geographical distribution of body odor mutant genes
(Blue = with body odor, yellow = without body odor)
▲ Image source: www.unz.com
Can oil ear be inherited?
Oil ear and dry ear conform to Mendel’s genetic law. Whether you are oil ear or dry ear is determined by genes.
G/A and G/G genotypes belong to the wet type (oil ear), which belongs to the dominant inheritance like dimples and double eyelids. And A/A is a dry type (dry ear), which belongs to recessive inheritance.
That is to say, if the father is an oil ear (G/A, G/G) and the mother is a dry ear (A/A), then the child may be an oil ear or a dry ear (the probability of oil ear is high).
Both parents are oily ears, and children are more likely to be oily ears and less likely to be dry ears; If both parents have dry ears, the child must have dry ears.
Can you pick out your ears? How to care?
Cerumen, that is, earwax, which is formed in the outer two-thirds of the ear canal, is a normal substance and physiological phenomenon existing in the external auditory canal. It has the functions of protection, moistening, antibacterial and so on, and will also be discharged by itself through ordinary behaviors such as chewing food, talking and coughing.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, oily ears and dry ears do not need to be treated, and cotton swabs should not be used to dig into the ear canal to avoid ear canal obstruction caused by pushing ear wax deep into the ear canal.
If you feel that the oil ear is really uncomfortable or affects the appearance, you can occasionally gently wipe the mouth of the external auditory canal.
(The green part is cerumen, which is located 2/3 outside the ear canal)
Otitis externa, ear canal stenosis, ear canal trauma, the use of hearing AIDS or earplugs or the use of cotton swabs to dig out the ears may all cause ear canal obstruction, thus causing cerumen embolism.
Embolism usually leads to a series of consequences: tinnitus, fullness, itching, earache, secretion, odor and cough, and even reversible hearing loss.
Studies have shown that 10% of children, 5% of healthy adults and more than 30% of the elderly and people with developmental retardation have cerumen embolism.
(cerumen is completely stuffed in the ear canal)
If cerumen embolism occurs repeatedly, you can go to the otolaryngology department of the hospital to see if it needs to be treated.
Treatment methods include observation, dissolution with cerumen dissolving agent, washing, manual removal except washing, and combined method (for example, washing after earwax is dissolved; Rinse and then remove manually).
Manual removal includes the use of curettes, probes, hooks, tweezers or direct observation under headlights, otoscopes or microscopes.
Finally, do a little research. Are you oily or dry? Does it bother you? Take a walk in the comment area ~ by the way, click to watch+share, and help friends around you solve their troubles ~
[References]
[1]Toyoda Y, Gomi T,Nakagawa H, et al. Diagnosis of human axillary osmidrosis by genotyping of the human ABCC11 gene: clinical practice and basic scientific evidence[J]. BioMed research international, 2016, 2016.
[2]Nakano M, Miwa N,Hirano A, et al. A strong association of axillary osmidrosis with the wet earwax type determined by genotyping of the ABCC11 gene[J]. BMC genetics, 2009,10(1): 1-5.
[3]Ohashi J, Naka I, Tsuchiya N. The impact of natural selection on an ABCC11 SNP determining earwax type. Mol Biol Evol. 2011 Jan; 28(1):849-57.
[4]Schwartz S R, Magit A E, Rosenfeld R M, et al. Clinical practice guideline (update): earwax (cerumen impaction)[J]. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, 2017, 156(1_suppl): S1-S29.
[5]Horton G A, Simpson M T W, Beyea M M, et al. Cerumen management: an updated clinical review and evidence-based approach for primary care physicians[J]. Journal of primary care& community health, 2020, 11: 2150132720904181.
[disclaimer]
The data in this article was updated on April 1st, 2022.
Originated by Professor Yang Xichuan, a dermatologist, it aims to popularize science for readers.
Popular science content can not replace doctors’ diagnosis and treatment opinions, and is for reference only.
If you have skin problems, please consult a doctor in time.
Some pictures are from the Internet. If there is any infringement, please contact to delete them.
Cover design: Sen Ma
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