Cotton swabs

Cotton swabs send dozens of children to ERs each day, study says

But people continue to use a soft-tipped plastic or paper stick to dig out the wax from their ear canals -- and it's a problem.

Authors of a new study in the Journal of Pediatrics, conducted by researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital, warn that using cotton-tip applicators to clean the ear can be dangerous, especially in the hands of little ones.

Why you shouldn't use cotton swabs to clean your ears

Updated clinical guidelines published Tuesday in the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery say they're not appropriate for earwax removal. In fact, information for patients in the guidelines say no to putting anything "smaller than your elbow in your ear."

Regardless, most of us hoard a stash of the soft-tipped paper sticks; they seem so perfectly suited to that dirty job.