"Hopi" Ear Candling

[SimonC]

Would that be the one that led to a trip to the ER and resulted in 3rd degree burns and a traumatised hamster...?

In some versions of the myth, the ER patient was one Richard Gere. Too good a story to be true though...

http://www.snopes.com/risque/homosex/gerbil.asp

[Trinoc]

Would that be the one that led to a trip to the ER and resulted in 3rd degree burns and a traumatised hamster...?

In he fevered imagination of the person who made up the story, yes.

The legend appears to have evolved into one with celebrity overtones ... here.

[SimonC]

Cross posted with you Trinoc...sorry about that!

[Trinoc]

Cross posted with you Trinoc...sorry about that!

No problem!

[Croydon Bob]

Cross posted with you Trinoc...sorry about that!

Fools seldom differ, er, I mean... Great minds think alike.

[SimonC]

[Blue Wode]

Another irresponsible piece of reporting on ear candling in today’s press:

Marie Cadounas is one of the few therapists to offer this relaxing and balancing therapy using Hopi ear candles - an ancient treatment from The Hopi, the oldest tribe of Native American Pueblo people.


THEORY
The ear candle, a cotton tube impregnated with beeswax and theraputic oils, is lit and the other end is painlessly inserted in the ear.
It causes a light suction action (a chimney effect) which draws impurities gently to the surface, where they can be removed. The movement of the flame creates vibrations in the air flow that gently massage the ear drum.
The gentle warmth massages and clears the inner ear and the sinuses, creating a soothing and relaxing effect and a feeling of wellbeing


-snip-

The only moment of tension is when Marie opens the end of the burnt-out candle to reveal the condition of your ears.


GURU STATUS
With her wealth of knowledge in all areas of massage and holistic treatment, Marie is one of the most experienced therapists in England to offer this unusual treatment.


-snip-

The cost of the treatment is £50 and lasts 45 minutes to one hour - a course of ten treatments is recommended but benefits can be felt after just one session.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1127418/Guru-Marie-Cadounas-Hopi-ear-candle-therapy.html

Now spot the inconsistencies with her web page:

Thermo-Auricular Therapy

60 Mins (first treatment/45 Mins follow up treatments) - £40
Course of 6 (recommended) £240

Hopi Ear Candles are hollow linen tubes made with pure Beeswax, Honey Extracts, Sage, Chamomile, St John’s Wart and Beta-Carotene (Vitamin A), which, when heated, release their healing herbal vapours into the receiver.
The treatment is extremely soothing and relaxing. All you will feel is the warmth from the candle and you will possibly hear a gentle fizzing or crackling sound. A relaxing face and head massage follows to enhance the action of the candles; this helps to eliminate toxins and also drains the sinuses.

Benefits for those suffering from stress, hay fever, excessive ear wax or sensation of blocked ears, tinnitus, headaches, migraine and sinusitis.

http://www.completelycomplementary.co.uk/hopi.html

Incidentally, this is some of what Rose Shapiro has to say about ear candling in her 2008 book Suckers: How alternative medicine makes fools of us all (pp.44-45):

The world’s largest manufacturer of Hopi ear candles is Biosun, a company based in Schwalbach, Germany. In the mid 1980s Biosun bought the name ‘Hopi’ from the Hopi Indian tribe for an undisclosed sum to launch the candle brand. Hopi ear candles are central to Biosun’s ambitions in what the company describes as ‘the economic mega-trend of the next decade – the future market “Wellness”’. Biosun’s Hopi ear candles retail at around £6.50 per pair with your Thermal Auricular Therapist charging upwards of £20 a session.

-snip-

Biosun never suggests that ear candles can remove earwax. Instead they say that the flame will create ‘a vibration of air in the ear candle, generating a massage-like effect on the eardrum’ so the user is able to ‘relax, let go, revitalise’.

It is thought that the Hopi, a small Native American tribe, were unaware of the fortune about to be made form their brand and they are said to be taking legal advice. The Hopi tribe’s own information material makes no mention of ear candling in any of its descriptions of their life, history, religion or culture.

-snip-

In Britain there are still no Department of Health warnings or restrictions on ear candling and the practice is increasingly popular.

-snip-

One British ENT specialist, who does not wish to disclose his identity, become so concerned about the ear candling craze that he went undercover to attend a Hopi ear candling course run by a local CAM therapists. He told me he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when he discovered how little the teacher knew about the ear, either its anatomy or what could go wrong with it. After just a seconds-long glimpse in the students’ ears with a cheap disposable otoscope she ‘candled’ each of them as a teaching exercise. The session ended with the ritualistic breaking open of the candles to demonstrate the debris. The teacher appeared only mildly discomfited when every candle showed an identical deposit of the supposed earwax, saying that this was a strange coincidence that had never happened before.

This ENT doctor/spy was intrigued to hear about the Hopi Indians from his teacher, whom she described in her handout as ‘the oldest Pueblo people, with great medicinal knowledge and a high degree of spirituality’. He was interested because he already knows something about the Hopi. They are members of a group that enjoys dubious renown in ENT circles. ‘If you want to see real ear disease,’ he told me, ‘go to the North American Indians – they are famous for their terrible ears.’

But no doubt Ms Cadounas will eventually consider joining OfQuack…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/21/complementary-natural-heathcare-council

…after all, its Code of Conduct, Performance and Ethics,requires its registrants to only provide treatment or advice if they believe it is appropriate…
http://www.cnhc.org.uk/pages/index.cfm?page_id=25

…which, in turn, is something that isn’t going to go down well with Trading Standards:

‘Britain simultaneously licenses alternative medicine and outlaws it’
http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12998201&fsrc=rss

An impasse or what? ???

[_Carole_]

Hello everyone, first post from me.
I was listening to the podcast of the skeptic zone podcast on this subject today, I hope it's ok to mention other sites here. :)
I highly recommend it, it's podcast number 15, but would suggest not listening to it in public as I did, as you may startle passers-by when you suddenly laugh out loud. I'm now obviously thought of as the local mad-woman.
The bit about the Atlantis Nexus Ear Candling Drip Wax Protector is particularly good, and Dr Ben's quote that if anyone is stupid enough to buy hopi ear candles, ear candles are not their biggest problem.

[skbuncks]

Hello everyone, first post from me.
I was listening to the podcast of the skeptic zone podcast on this subject today, I hope it's ok to mention other sites here. :)
I highly recommend it, it's podcast number 15, but would suggest not listening to it in public as I did, as you may startle passers-by when you suddenly laugh out loud. I'm now obviously thought of as the local mad-woman.
The bit about the Atlantis Nexus Ear Candling Drip Wax Protector is particularly good, and Dr Ben's quote that if anyone is stupid enough to buy hopi ear candles, ear candles are not their biggest problem.

Is it this one? http://www.skepticzone.tv/ sceptic zone #15

skb

ETA: Oh, and welcome to UKS

[_Carole_]

That's the one, scroll down to number 15. Or just listen to them all - fab.

And thanks for the welcome (with a Hitchhiker's quote in the sig, made my day! )

[Dubious Dick]

Should we rename it 'Dopi' ear candling? Most of the people I have encountered who believe in this and other such baloney tend to have imbibed a lot of LSD, so seems appropriate?

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

Should we rename it 'Dopi' ear candling? Most of the people I have encountered who believe in this and other such baloney tend to have imbibed a lot of LSD, so seems appropriate?

That reminds me, statistically 6 of the 7 dwarves are not happy.

[AudioTherapist]

I'm an Audiologist and Hearing Therapist who specialises in Tinnitus and Hyperacusis. Just wanted to say what a wonderful job you've all done at researching and decimating the claims made for these idiotic things.

It's a source of constant frustration to patients and practitioners that crapmagic like this can be sold at all, let alone inflicted on the paying public by so called candling experts.

There are many examples in the literature of people being harmed by these things, usually by a flaming ball of wax burning through the eardrum resulting in a hard to heal (cauterised) perforation. Hopefully it'll happen to an MP then we may get some action...

[bruce]

Welcome aboard, AudioTherapist.