| During the course of investigating ear candling we often
encountered the belief that ear candles create a vacuum that draws fluids
and wax from the ear canal, which in turn produces beneficial health
effects. To investigate this notion, we obtained several ear candles
from a local health food store and investigated their properties.
Click pictures to enlarge.
 Description:
The candles were lightweight hollow tubes tapered at one end. The
candles were 25 cm in length and 1.5 cm wide at the non tapered end.
The tapered ends had a 1-2 mm opening. The candles appeared to be
made of wrapped gauzed that had been treated with paraffin. Each
candle cost approximately $1.00, although more expensive candles could be
obtained.
 The
protocol: A volunteer was procured from the alternative medicine
rotation. He denied any sinus infections or ear disease. The
candle was inserted into the subject's ear canal, ensuring a tight seal so
that the communication from the ear to the external environment was
through the candle. The subject's head rested on a rolled
cushion. The candle was lit with a match and allowed to burn until
approximately 7 cm in length. At this
 point
the candle was removed and placed in a beaker of water to douse the
flame. The ash was then trimmed from the cooled candle which was
then cut lengthwise to examine the contents. As a control, we also
simultaneously burned a candle that was placed in a clean, dry Erhlenmeyer
flask. This candle was also extinguished and cut as described.
 Results.
Each candle burned vigously for about 5 minutes. In the control
candle, white smoke poured from the small hole in the taper for about 1
minute. The photo on the right shows this (this was not the control
candle, but another used to demonstrate the phenomenon). In the
control candle, the white smoke deposited a waxy film on the bottom of the
beaker. The subject did not report any such residue in his
ear. The subject did not note discomfort during the procedure.
The control candle and the subject's candle burned at approximately the
same rate.
 Upon
completion of the treatment, the interior of the tapered end of the
treatment candle contained a considerable amount of a yellow-brown waxy
substance, that quite remarkably resembled ear wax. However, upon
examination of the control candle revealed that it too contained a similar
amount of the waxy substance. We next trimmed the candles to
identical lengths (5 cm) and compared their mass on a pan balance. Each
used candle taper weighed 1.76 gm. The experimental subject reported
no subjective changes in well-being immediately after treatment or one
hour later.
Conclusions.
- The ear candle, when burned, produced a brown waxy substance that
looks like ear wax. However, since the wax appears whether or
not the candle is placed in a human ear, we conclude that the source
of the wax is the candle and not the ear.
- It is possible that the candle produced wax but also extracted solid
material from the ear the was mixed with the candle wax.
However, since the candle remnant of the control candle and the one
inserted into a human volunteer weighed exactly the same, we conclude
that this did not happen.
- The human subject reported no feeling of a vacuum which is purported
to occur during the burning of the candle. The control candle
produced smoke that poured from the bottom of the tapered end,
suggesting that positive, not negative pressure was being
produced.
- The subject reported no subjective feelings invoked by the
treatment, suggesting that the ear candle was innefective in a
controlled environment.
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