• Mayo Clinic Minute: Stop cleaning your ears

a young woman trying to clean her ear with a q-tip
Don't put anything smaller than your elbow in your ears. The advice you may have first heard from your mom has gotten a fresh thumbs-up from America's ear, nose and throat doctors.

In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Dr. Karthik Balakrishnan, a Mayo Clinic otorhinolaryngologist, explains why you are likely doing more harm than good when you ignore this recommendation from the American Academy of Otolaryngology. Jeff Olsen reports.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (0:59) is in the downloads. Read the script