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Ear candling, also called ear coning or thermal-auricular therapy, is an alternative medicine practice claimed to improve general health and well-being by lighting one end of a hollow candle and placing the other end in the ear canal. Medical research has shown that the practice is both dangerous and ineffective and does not help remove earwax or toxicants. The claim by one manufacturer that ear candles originated with the Hopi tribe is also false.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://freespace.virgin.net/ahcare.qua/programme/earcandling.html#authenticity ) "The Hopi Cultural Preservation Office is not aware of Hopi people ever practicing 'Ear Candling.' Biosun and Revital Ltd. are misrepresenting the name 'Hopi' with their products. This therapy should not be called 'Hopi Ear Candeling.' () The history of Ear Candeling () should not refer to being used by the Hopi Tribe. Use of this false information with reference to Hopi should be stopped."〕 ==Safety and effectiveness== Edzard Ernst has published critically on the subject of ear candles, noting, "There are no data to suggest that it is effective for any condition. Furthermore, ear candles have been associated with ear injuries. The inescapable conclusion is that ear candles do more harm than good. Their use should be discouraged." According to the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), ear candling is sometimes promoted with claims that the practice can "purify the blood" or "cure" cancer, but that Health Canada has determined the candles have no effect on the ear, and no health benefit; instead they create risk of injury, especially when used on children. In October 2007, US FDA issued an alert identifying ear candles (also known as ear cones or auricular candles) as "dangerous to health when used in the dosage or manner, or with the frequency or duration, prescribed, recommended, or suggested in the labeling thereof" ... "since the use of a lit candle in the proximity of a person's face would carry a high risk of causing potentially severe skin/hair burns and middle ear damage." A 2007 paper in the journal ''Canadian Family Physician'' concludes: : "Ear candling appears to be popular and is heavily advertised with claims that could seem scientific to lay people. However, its claimed mechanism of action has not been verified, no positive clinical effect has been reliably recorded, and it is associated with considerable risk. No evidence suggests that ear candling is an effective treatment for any condition. On this basis, we believe it can do more harm than good and we recommend that GPs discourage its use." A 2007 paper in ''American Family Physician'' said: : "Ear candling also should be avoided. Ear candling is a practice in which a hollow candle is inserted into the external auditory canal and lit, with the patient lying on the opposite ear. In theory, the combination of heat and suction is supposed to remove earwax. However, in one trial, ear candles neither created suction nor removed wax and actually led to occlusion with candle wax in persons who previously had clean ear canals. Primary care physicians may see complications from ear candling including candle wax occlusion, local burns, and tympanic membrane perforation."〔McCarter, ''et al''. (Cerumen Impaction ) ''American Family Physician'', May 15, 2007〕 The Spokane Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic conducted a research study in 1996 which concluded that ear candling does not produce negative pressure and was ineffective in removing wax from the ear canal.〔 Several studies have shown that ear candles produce the same residue when burnt without ear insertion and that the residue is simply candle wax and soot.〔Kaushall P, Kaushall JN. ("On Ear Cones and Candles" ), ''Skeptical Inquirer 24.5'', Sept/Oct 2000, accessed November 21, 2010.〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url = http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_098.html )〕〔(Listen up: Beware of the , there are at least two cases in which people have set their houses on fire while ear candling, one of which resulted in death. A survey of ENT surgeons found some who had treated people with complications from ear candling. Burns were the most common. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ear candling」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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