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I should NEVER have read it. I say this because I already have an ear issue. When I get nervous, I pick at my ears. I don't know why - but I am sure it didn't help that my Grandmother used to cram q-tips into my ears, then pull out the gunk and show me. Zela was a saint in many ways, but she loathed ear gunk and squirmy little kids that hated q-tips.
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So, when I am nervous, I can feel my ear wax, whether it is there or not. Also around the ridges of my ears, where I will so often scratch and clean, that I break the skin. Then it bleeds and I get a scab, which does, in fact, lead to ear gunk.
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This leads me to constantly check my ears, with fingers which have oil. Oil attracts dirt. Oil and dirt make ear gunk and presto change-o, self fulfilling prophecy. And so I dig at my ears more. It is a tough cycle to break.
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It usually involved Ed telling me to "stop it!"
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Anyway, per NBCNews, it turns out ear mites are rare, but not unheard of. More common (more common) are (wait for it) dead cockroaches in the ear canal. Because cockroaches can't back up. And you should go to the doctor, because if you use tweezers to pull them out, the legs might break off - stay inside and you will get infected. (Read - if you dare.) I ran around the house like a chicken with its head cut off when I had a tick on my arm - I cannot imagine the panic if I had a dead cockroach inside my ear.
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YUCK!!!