Ear Candling Scam

[Jay Reynolds]

This one I have personal experience with. I was in a local health food store to buy some culinary herbs, and noticed funny cones at the checkout. When I asked about them, I was told they sucked wax out of the ear.
On a later visit, when I began asking more questions, including how a suction could pull something when there was no connection allowing air to enter the ear canal for a flow to be established, I wasn't getting any clear answer other than people were buying them and offering treatments. Eventually, I told the store owner that she really shouldn't be selling things that were obviously scams. One thing led to another and I was thrown out of the store. Last I checked, they were still for sale.

This woman got taken for a $105.00 lesson, but then applied some critical thought and experimentation.

[Mick]

There's such a strong placebo effect with alternative medicine, that it's quite difficult to sway a believer. After all, they have the evidence there before them. It "worked" for them.

I have an in-law who swears by ear candling - say's he can hear again now. But one has to tread lightly when debunking relatives, so I left it alone. Although I have taken the time to explain to my relative what homeopathy is.

The thing is, all these things have VERY comprehensive debunks already available on the web. So I don't spend much time on medical topics.

[Jay Reynolds]

If you tell an ordinary person that some folks stick candles in their ear to get ear wax out, generally they will look at you with disbelief and think you must be joking.

[Mick]

Well, to be fair, if you told them that doctors use leeches to help re-attach severed ears, they would probably think you were joking there too.

[firepilot]

Amazingly enough, I had a Doctor try to tell me that ear candling worked.

[MikeC]

Wiki has a perfectly adequate article on the practice - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_candling

[Mick]

Interesting how the "mainstream" ear candlers have actually moved away from the claims of it sucking wax out, and of being a Hopi indian practice:

http://freespace.virgin.net/ahcare.qua/index5.html

Ear candling is no longer regarded as an "ear cleansing" tool as it has become very obvious that there is no suction element to the candle's function, nor is there a heating up of the ear canal. Ear candling is a simple, but extremely effective, energetic tool to influence health in a positive way. The noted effects stretch over millennia and across the whole world, covering most great cultures this small planet has ever known.

M Harmony PhD shared her search result looking into verifiable ear candling data. She researched what constitutes a safe and healthy candle as well as the origins of ear candling and the ancient practices that have lead to ear candling. She caused controversy when she stated that the Hopi Native American tribe has been stunned by the revelation that they were supposed to have lent their name to the most famous ear candle in the world. Michelle said she had spent a lot of time with the Hopi's to find out that the Hopis have never used ear candles and have never heard of it.

However their new stance is even LESS scientific:

All matter is energy condensed and all cells "listen" to everything that is going on in their environment. The combination of these allow the energetic influence of ear candling to be felt throughout the whole body, both via a direct influence on the cells and via the overall information distributed through the nervous network. He also showed that in free burning open candles only white smoke appeared at the bottom of the candle. The matter found inside the candles after burning only occurs by compressing the smoke. He suggested a relationship between what was found inside the burned candle and the changes made in the auric field of the person being candled.

The main commercial ear candle vendor makes very tepid claims - basically that it vibrates a bit.

http://en.biosun.com/ohrkerze/wirkungsweise/

The Earcandles have a purely physical effect. A light underpressure (stack effect) and the vibration waves of the air in the candle, which are caused by the movement of the flame, create a gentle massage for the ear drum.

But they have quite an extensive page documenting that it's a Hopi practice (not that would make it more likely to work):

http://en.biosun.com/ohrkerze/geschichte/

[firepilot]

And the Hopi tribe, has specifically asked them to stop too