We can safely assume that the majority of us use Q-Tips to clean our ears, I don't know about you but I don't really know of any other alternatives. However, we're often told that these small and seemingly harmless cotton swabs are, in fact, potentially very harmful if used on a regular basis.

One of the main reasons for this is that using them tends to push our ear wax deeper into our ear canal and there's no way for it to get swept out of the ear.

Cotton buds can also cause punctured eardrums and potential hearing loss. In the most severe cases, Q-Tips can damage the sensitive structures behind the ear canal and go on to cause complete deafness, ongoing vertigo with nausea, a loss of one's sense of taste, and even facial paralysis.

So potentially detrimental are Q-Tips that a doctor decided to share a disturbing video in which a cotton bud can be seen lodged deep inside a man's ear canal.

Neel Raithatha, a consultant audiologist and popular YouTuber who goes by 'Wax Whisperer', filmed as he retrieved Q-Tip from the man's ear using tweezers.

Per MailOnline, the unidentified man had been using the cotton bud to reach an itch inside his ear when cotton wool fell away from the plastic stick and became stuck.

While the patient came away from the incident unscathed, he was made aware that the situation could have caused a range of problems including infections, impacted earwax, and tinnitus.

According to Raithatha, who operates out of his clinic in Leicester, the patient was suffering with an infection and inflammation.

While the audiologist did not go into detail about the man's symptoms, he revealed that he had been in pain and discomfort by the time he sought help.

We can safely assume that the majority of us use Q-Tips to clean our ears, I don't know about you but I don't really know of any other alternatives. However, we're often told that these small and seemingly harmless cotton swabs are, in fact, potentially very harmful if used on a regular basis.

One of the main reasons for this is that using them tends to push our ear wax deeper into our ear canal and there's no way for it to get swept out of the ear.

Cotton buds can also cause punctured eardrums and potential hearing loss. In the most severe cases, Q-Tips can damage the sensitive structures behind the ear canal and go on to cause complete deafness, ongoing vertigo with nausea, a loss of one's sense of taste, and even facial paralysis.

So potentially detrimental are Q-Tips that a doctor decided to share a disturbing video in which a cotton bud can be seen lodged deep inside a man's ear canal.

Neel Raithatha, a consultant audiologist and popular YouTuber who goes by 'Wax Whisperer', filmed as he retrieved Q-Tip from the man's ear using tweezers.

Per MailOnline, the unidentified man had been using the cotton bud to reach an itch inside his ear when cotton wool fell away from the plastic stick and became stuck.

While the patient came away from the incident unscathed, he was made aware that the situation could have caused a range of problems including infections, impacted earwax, and tinnitus.

According to Raithatha, who operates out of his clinic in Leicester, the patient was suffering with an infection and inflammation.

While the audiologist did not go into detail about the man's symptoms, he revealed that he had been in pain and discomfort by the time he sought help.