When Northland ear specialist Marg Hunt was driving to work on Thursday morning, she was not surprised to hear on the radio that there were hundreds of ACC claims relating to cockroaches in ears over the past five years.
“I was laughing because I was thinking ‘oh gosh, you know, that’s bread and butter for me’,” Hunt, who has been in the ear-cleaning field for 40 years, said.
That same morning she removed a pesky mosquito lodged in a person’s ear canal.
“It’s mainly flying bugs [like moths and mosquitos]. I’ve only seen a cockroach [in ears] a couple of times actually.”
If you have ever been paranoid about getting a bug in your ear, you may want to close your ears now: According to Hunt, it is mostly a coincidence when it happens and it is often while we are asleep.
"When the person’s asleep, the cockroach is looking for something warm and dark to hide in.
"But flying bugs at night … just happen to egress into the ear and flutter and cause all sorts of irritation for the person.
Not sure if I should tag this with a warning, but I figured the title would be enough to keep away the squeamish.
Ok how do I stop this? Do I need to wear headphones to bed or something
Ear buds might be better. There might already be a cockroach living in your headphones!
Also, not just to bed. Also when outside at dusk when lots of insects are buzzing around.
Maybe just all the time.
I need a spider to live on the outside of my ear and make a web covering my ear so nothing gets in.
Just cover your entire body with spiders.
While they’re there they can spin you a nice silk suit too.
I was thinking silicone ear plugs.
