[Blarg]

Doctors, like the rest of the human race, also deal with a high percentage of the foolish and the clumsy. It's very possible to clean the ear with Q-tips well, if you use your head and have a bit of patience. It's definitely not the thing to do if you're one of those dudes who rolls up a gigantic ball or toilet paper and in a panic wipes his ass with a few strokes and then bolts from the toilet. You actually have to pay attention.

For one thing, put the damn thing in very slowly and carefully. For another, use several Q-tips and use the first ones to just dab about and pull out any rinds or loose particles of ear wax with just very light contact. For another, apply pressure outward, not inward. You don't want to be packing and grinding stuff inward and downward. For another, some people will never manage to master such things and just grind away. And for another, you have to do this by feel, so parents doing it for their kids, or anyone doing it for someone else, is much more likely to botch it.