Sherri, a mother of two boys, asked about ear candling as a way of removing excess earwax. She experimented with candling after one of her sons failed a hearing test at school.

“I took him to our doctor,” she wrote in an e-mail, “And for $150, the doctor flushed the ears of both of my sons. One with water, one with something that looked like a metal crochet hook. Ugh. Afterward, a friend told me about candling. I can’t believe what they draw out of the ears. The candles are cheap, quick, easy, convenient. How effective are they?”

I didn’t find much information on ear candling by way of medical studies. What did turn up wasn’t very encouraging.

First, a word about the candles. You can buy them at health food stores or over the Internet for as little as $5. An ear candle looks like any other long candle, only it is hollow, with a fabric exterior and beeswax or paraffin in the lining.

In an article in March 1999, the University of California’s Berkeley Wellness Letter explained that “the directions tell you to lie down on your side with one ear up, cover your hair and face with a towel or paper plate, and have an assistant insert the candle in your ear and light it.” The heat from the burning candle is supposed to melt the earwax and create a vacuum that draws the wax out into the cone of the candle.

The Berkeley letter reported that a small clinical trial in Spokane, Wash., found candling did not create such a vacuum and removed no impacted earwax. In another survey, there were reports of ear injuries, including burns, eardrum perforation and temporary hearing loss.

“Earwax is actually the body’s own protection against dust and other irritants, as well as against possible sources of infection, such as fungi and bacteria,” the letter noted. “Wax seldom causes any problems. It usually dries up in small particles and migrates to the outer ear.”