Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. You've probably used cotton swabs to clean your ears. Here's why ENTs say you shouldn't. (Getty Images) (LaylaBird via Getty ...

It can be a common habit—after a shower or getting out of the pool, grabbing a cotton-tipped swab to clean out one's ears to help get rid of excess water, or to remove what one thinks is earwax ...

"Don’t put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear." It's the kind of thing you may have heard your grandmother say, but, for the most part, it’s true, says Dr. Bradley Kesser, an ear, nose and ...