Fact check: False claim that garlic can ease ear pain, infections and headaches

Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY
·4 min read

The claim: Garlic removes ear pain, ear infections and headaches

Treating an ear problem is as simple as putting garlic in your ear, according to a popular social media claim.

"Did you know? Garlic helps remove pain in ears, ear infections, and headaches quickly and effectively," reads the text of a Facebook post shared Dec. 19. "Simply, put a cleaned garlic clove in your ear – it fits perfectly in ear, as an earplugs (sic) until you feel relief!"

The post generated close to 1,500 interactions and 1,700 shares in less than three weeks. Several social media users shared this post.

But the claim is false.

Garlic won't do anything to help with earaches, ear infections or headaches, doctors say. It can also pose hazards when placed in the ear canal.

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USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook users who shared the claim for comment.

Garlic is not effective treatment for earaches

Dr. Spencer Payne, an ear, nose and throat physician at University of Virginia Health, told USA TODAY there is no scientific proof to back up the claim.

Garlic cloves, depending on how far they are placed in the ear, have the potential to damage the eardrum, cause infection and leave rashes or irritation.

"The other possibility is that you can't get it out," Payne said. "Specifically organic material, you're at much increased risk if you can't get it back out. We do generally recommend not putting anything in your ear."

Experts told USA TODAY many factors can lead to earaches, ear infections and headaches, and patients should be evaluated by their health care provider.

Dr. Douglas Hildrew, an ear, nose and throat specialist at Yale Medicine, said chronic ear pain tends to come from an inflammation of the jaw joint.

"A really nice way to test that (is) you put your finger in your ear canal and pull forward towards your jaw joint and open and close your jaw," Hildrew said. "If you feel like popping or clicking or grinding, that's a pretty sure conclusion there's some instability of that joint."

Warm compresses, decreased activity and avoiding hard to eat or chewy foods can help manage jaw joint pain, Payne said.

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Infections can also cause earaches. Dr. Matthew Stewart, associate professor of otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins University, said foreign bodies in water, such as fungi or bacteria, that colonize the skin canal can lead to external ear infections, called otitis externa or swimmer's ear.

Upper respiratory viral infections or bacterial infections from the sinuses can also cause middle ear infections, called otitis media, according to Stewart.

Treatments for both are dependent on the patient, but can include ear drops, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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Headaches are a complex condition that sometimes have no anatomical connection with the ear, said Dr. Erich Voigt, director of general otolaryngology at New York University.

"If someone's having chronic headaches, the most important thing is to know why," Hildrew said. "The treatment is really determined by what the cause of the headache is."

Tension headaches due to the stress or bad posture are common, Hildrew said. Over-the-counter medications, including ibuprofen, aspirin and acetaminophen, can help resolve the issue, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that garlic removes ear pain, ear infections and headaches. There is no scientific evidence that shows sticking a garlic in the ear canal helps remove ear pain, ear infection or headaches. Treatment depends on the cause of the condition and the patient.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Putting garlic in your ear not a good idea, doctors say