question: How and why does your ear produce ear wax?
comment: Your ear produces earwax through “earwax glands” in the ear canal. It gets pushed out over time and eventually either gets cleaned out or comes out on its own. It produces the wax to make sure nothing foreign goes in, such as dust or bad bacteria.
passages: Section::::Physiology.:Cleaning.
   Cerumen is produced in the outer third of the cartilaginous portion of the ear canal. It is a mixture of viscous secretions from sebaceous glands and less-viscous ones from modified apocrine sweat glands. The primary components of earwax are shed layers of skin, with, on average, 60% of the earwax consisting of keratin, 12–20% saturated and unsaturated long-chain fatty acids, alcohols, squalene and 6–9% cholesterol.
   By gross description, there is usually a solitary, polypoid, reddish mass behind an intact ear drum (tympanic membrane). The tissue is often friable, measuring 2 cm in most cases. All tissue should be processed in order to exclude a concurrent cholesteatoma.
   Section::::Non-surgical otoplasty.:Tissue Molding.:Adults.:Ear Buddies.
   Section::::Distribution.
   BULLET::::- Cerumenex (triethanolamine, polypeptides and oleate-condensate)
  
  BULLET::::- Docusate, an emulsifying agent, an active ingredient found in laxatives
  
  BULLET::::- Mineral Oil
  
  A cerumenolytic should be used 2–3 times daily for 3–5 days prior to the cerumen extraction.
  
  Section::::Treatment.:Ear irrigation.
   Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles in the dermis, or skin. With the exception of areas of glabrous skin, the human body is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fine vellus hair. It is an important biomaterial primarily composed of protein, notably keratin.
  
  Section::::Clinical significance.
  
  BULLET::::- Hair that migrates so that it touches the eardrum may cause tinnitus.
  
  BULLET::::- Folliculitis of ear hair may cause acute and localized otitis externa.
   Section::::Evolution.
   Section::::Physiology.:Lubrication.
  
  The lubrication provided by cerumen prevents desiccation of the skin within the ear canal. The lubricative properties arise from the high lipid content of the sebum produced by the sebaceous glands. In wet-type cerumen, these lipids include cholesterol, squalene, and many long-chain fatty acids and alcohols.
  
  Section::::Physiology.:Antimicrobial effects.
   Once the debris is cleared, cholesteatoma can give rise to a number of appearances. If there is significant inflammation, the tympanic membrane may be partially obscured by an aural polyp. If there is less inflammation, the cholesteatoma may present the appearance of 'semolina' discharging from a defect in the tympanic membrane. The posterior and superior parts of the tympanic membrane are most commonly affected. If the cholesteatoma has been dry, the cholesteatoma may present the appearance of 'wax over the attic'. The attic is just above the eardrum.
   Section::::Morphology.:Internal.
   Section::::Function.:Auditory areas.
   BULLET::::- Middle ear
   As skin cells die they form a barrier of dry protein called keratin. This layer of keratin is normally pushed out of the ear by migration of skin cells along the ear canal and is turned into wax. Clearance of keratin can be disrupted by tympanic membrane retraction so that keratin accumulates within the retraction pocket. When keratin becomes trapped deep inside the ear and cannot be cleaned out, it is known as cholesteatoma. Growth of bacteria in the trapped keratin causes smelly discharge from the ear and can spread to cause serious infection.
  
  Section::::Treatment.
   The ear, with its blood vessels close to the surface, is an essential thermoregulator in some land mammals, including the elephant, the fox, and the rabbit. There are five types of ear carriage in domestic rabbits, some of which have been bred for exaggerated ear length—a potential health risk that is controlled in some countries. Abnormalities in the skull of a half-lop rabbit were in 1868. In marine mammals, "Earless seals" are one of three groups of Pinnipedia.
  
  Section::::Other animals.:Invertebrates.
   Section::::Non-surgical otoplasty.:Tissue Molding.:Adults.
  
  At, or above, the age of 7, a child or adult could treat their prominent ears with a minimally invasive technique using earFold implants to remold the cartilage in their ears in a simple procedure which can be performed under local anaesthesia.
  
  Section::::Non-surgical otoplasty.:Tissue Molding.:Adults.:Taping.
   Experiments by Sprague have shown that ten to twenty plants are required for adequate representation of genetic diversity in an open-pollinated maize variety. Since the number of ears saved for seed by ancient Asian maize cultivators with only small plots of land at their disposal was often smaller than this and, indeed, since new maize populations are sometimes established by growing the progeny of a single ear, it follows that there must often have been genetic drift – changes in gene frequencies resulting from the creation of small breeding populations.
   Earmarking a mutant strain of mice called MRL/MpJ led to the accidental discovery that they had the ability to regenerate tissue very quickly, when scientists working with them found that the holes punched in their ears kept growing back. The holes healed over completely with regenerated cartilage, blood vessels, and skin with hair follicles. It was later found that this strain of mice also heals damage to other body parts such as knee cartilage and heart muscle significantly better than other mice.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Animal identification
  
  BULLET::::- British Cattle Movement Service
  
  BULLET::::- Ear tag
  
  BULLET::::- Livestock branding
   Eardrum
  
  In the anatomy of humans and various other tetrapods, the eardrum, also called the tympanic membrane or myringa, is a thin, cone-shaped membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear. Its function is to transmit sound from the air to the ossicles inside the middle ear, and then to the oval window in the fluid-filled cochlea. Hence, it ultimately converts and amplifies vibration in air to vibration in fluid. The malleus bone bridges the gap between the eardrum and the other ossicles.
   Section::::Relationship with humans.
  
  Earwigs are fairly abundant and are found in many areas around the world. There is no evidence that they transmit diseases to humans or other animals. Their pincers are commonly believed to be dangerous, but in reality, even the curved pincers of males cause little or no harm to humans. Earwigs have been rarely known to crawl into the ears of humans, but they do not lay eggs inside the human body or human brain.
   Can you use them as a mop?
  
  Are they stringy at the bottom?
  
  Are they curly at the top?
  
  Can you use them for a swatter?
  
  Can you use them for a blotter?
  
  Do your ears flip-flop?
  
  Do your ears stick out?
  
  Can you waggle them about?
  
  Can you flap them up and down
  
  As you fly around the town?
  
  Can you shut them up for sure
  
  When you hear an awful bore?
  
  Do your ears stick out?
  
  Do your ears give snacks?
  
  Are they all filled up with wax?
  
  Do you eat it in the morning
   To assist with settling on the best form of treatment for cauliflower ear Yotsuyianagi et al. created a classification system for deciding when surgery is needed and to guide the best approach.
  
  Section::::Prevention.
   Section::::Ecology.:Predators and parasites.
   Earwax
  
  Earwax, also known by the medical term cerumen, is a gray, orange, red or yellowish waxy substance secreted in the ear canal of humans and other mammals. It protects the skin of the human ear canal, assists in cleaning and lubrication, and also provides protection against bacteria, fungi, insects, and water.
   Section::::Development.:Outer ear.
  