I have always had perfect hearing that I greatly took for granted. Like many people, I frequently cleaned my ears with cotton swabs, because I thought that super-clean ears were healthy ears. One day, I was cleaning them quickly and felt a sharp pain in my ear, followed by difficulty hearing. I was very worried that I permanently damaged my ear and quickly made an appointment with an ENT specialist. While I was unhappy to learn that I had punctured my ear drum, my doctor gave me the good news that it should heal on its own within a few weeks. Thankfully, it did, and my ear and hearing are now great again. Since then, I have learned a lot about ear care and am eager to share it on my new blog along with other health tips!