What to do if a cockroach got into your ear: 4 steps to clean the ear canal
Cockroaches often appear in people's houses and apartments. These intruders usually run around the kitchen at night looking for bread crumbs or any other food leftovers. But, there are cases when cockroaches made their way into the bedroom and crawled right into the bed to a person. At best, this ended with the awakening and fright of the sleeping person, but sometimes insects can be in the nose or ear passages of a person, and then the situation becomes extremely dangerous.
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How and why cockroaches end up in people's ears
As you know, cockroaches are very fond of hiding in cramped, dark places, and if it is still warm and humid there, then it will seem like heaven on earth to them. It is these conditions that are provided in the ear passages of people and sometimes cockroaches use this.
According to the American entomologist Kobi Schal, “The ears of a sleeping person are the ideal place for a cockroach to live.”
| Cockroaches in the ear | The appearance of cockroaches in the ear is quite rare, but these are not isolated cases. Statistics show that every year in different countries dozens and even hundreds of people turn to otolaryngologists, in whose auricles insects are found. |
| Where do they start | Most often this happens in apartments and houses where sanitary conditions are far from normal, and cockroaches have become permanent residents. |
| Why do they get in the ear | Insects usually get into the ears if they went in search of food and wandered into the bed with a person. They may be attracted to bread crumbs, human sweat or saliva, or the smell of earwax. |
| Why get stuck | Due to their flat body, cockroaches are able to penetrate almost any gap, and the ear canal is not a problem for them. |
What is dangerous cockroach in the ear
The diameter of the ear canal of an adult is approximately 0,9-1 cm. This width of the passage allows the insect to get inside, but it most often fails to go back. The thing is that cockroaches can only walk and run forward, so when they get into the ear canal, they are trapped.
Most often, cockroaches climb into the ears of young children, as their sleep is much stronger than that of adults.
In an attempt to free themselves, the insect has no choice but to wade deeper. This can be accompanied by severe pain, since the cockroach has hard elytra, and its body is covered with a strong chitinous shell. Any movement of a cockroach can lead to minor bleeding, and if the insect gets to the eardrum, this can cause hearing problems.
The presence of an insect in the ear canal can cause many different symptoms, such as:
- itching;
- mucous discharge;
- dizziness;
- nausea;
- Strong headache;
- vomiting.
Unpleasant sensations appear due to the impact of the insect on the sensitive walls of the ear canal and the vestibular apparatus. In addition to physical pain, the presence of a cockroach inside the ear can trigger a panic attack. Such attacks are usually susceptible to impressionable people with a weak psyche and young children.
What to do if a cockroach got into your ear
First of all, you should calm the victim and immediately seek medical help. If there is no way to get medical help, then you need to act in the following order:
Lay the victim on their side so that the ear with the cockroach inside is on top. If the cockroach is very small and can turn around in the ear opening, then this position will help him get out. Make sure that the cause of the pain is the insect. To do this, examine the ear canal with a flashlight.
If there really is a cockroach in the ear, then it causes the main pain when it tries to crawl deeper. To make it stop moving, you need to kill it. To do this, slowly pour a small amount of vegetable or cosmetic oil into the ear opening. This will block the cockroach from accessing oxygen and soon it will suffocate.
After the cockroach ceases to show signs of life, you can gradually pour warm water into the ear. Since the density of these two liquids is different, the water should push the oil along with the insect to the surface. If this did not happen, then the cockroach managed to get into more inaccessible places and it would not be possible to get it without medical help.
If the cockroach still swam up, you need to carefully examine it for damage. After the insect is removed from the ear, it is worth making sure that no parts of its body remain inside. Even if it seems that the cockroach came out safe and sound, the victim must definitely see an otolaryngologist.
Conclusion
Neighborhood with cockroaches can bring many problems. These insects are not only unpleasant, but also very dangerous neighbors. They are carriers of a huge number of infections and pathogenic bacteria that pose a serious threat to human health and life. Therefore, it is very important to keep the house clean and start fighting these pests as soon as the first signs of their presence appear.
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