TV doctor branded a ‘dangerous quack’ for promoting ear candles

TV DoCTor Dawn Harper has been forced to apologise after recommending a discredited and potentially dangerous procedure to a radio listener.

Speaking on LBC’s Health Hour, the This Morning and Embarrassing Bodies star advised the caller to try ear candles in an attempt to clear their ears of wax.

Ear candles are hollow tubes coated in wax inserted into patients’ ears and then lit at the far end. Advocates claim that the heat from the flame melts and loosens the ear wax – and creates negative pressure that ‘sucks’ the wax into the candle.

But while many still champion their use, the practice has been widely discredited and even linked to hearing loss. Dr Harper’s advice prompted a backlash and saw her branded ‘dangerous’ and a ‘quack’.

@emrys_myrddin tweeted during the broadcast on Tuesday night: ‘@LBC @

‘You really need to retract your advice’

DrDawnHarper WHAT oN EArTH r you doing recommending ear candling live on air? an unsafe quack product. You really need to retract your advice, it’s dangerous and misleading.’ Another listener branded her a ‘dangerous quack’.

Dr Harper, 53, was quick to apologise to listeners adding: ‘It was recommended to me by an ENT (ear nose and throat) surgeon but seems to have fallen from favour. I’ll discuss next week.’

Edzard Ernst, an expert in the study of alternative medicine and former professor at the University of Exeter, published a 2004 article entitled ‘Ear candles: a triumph of ignorance over science’ and said there is no evidence they work. He said a study of ear candles show that its ‘mode of action is implausible and demonstrably wrong’ while there was ‘ no data to suggest that it is effective for any condition’.

He also points to cases in which patients suffered injuries from the practice. But Lynne Hatcher, a complementary health practitioner from Wolverhampton, claims ear candles are ‘a pleasant and non-invasive treatment of the ears, used to treat a variety of conditions’. A spokesman for Dr

Harper said: ‘At the end of the call she referenced using candles which she now understands is not recognised by Ear Nose and Throat specialists. She will be clarifying this in her next edition.’

Clinical studies show ear candles are not effective. But alternative medicine practitioners still promote them, and are offered at the Urban Retreat salon in Harrods, London, for £50 for both ears.