Are You Too Much of a Clean Freak?

Like most men, I am a hygiene centrist: I fall somewhere between Queer Eye and Pigpen. Except with Q-tips—give me a 300 pack and I'll start twirling till they whir. Yesss! A sucker
for that Q-tip eargasm, I scoffed at the warning on the box: "Do not use swab in ear canal." Who were they kidding?

Then came the first ear infection. "You're a Q-tipper, aren't you?" the ear doctor asked, poking in my ear canal till it felt like a root canal. Turns out all my swabbing had merely pushed my earwax deeper, where it formed a festering "wax plug." As I winced, the doctor smiled. This man hated Q-tips, and he was teaching me a lesson. "Never," he said, probing deeper, "put a Q-tip down . . . this . . . far!"

Ow! But I couldn't give it up, so I found a specialist who allows canal cleaning with a swab dipped in hydrogen peroxide. I'm Q-tipping again, my eyes rolling up in my head. So the obsession is still there. And so are the risks, as I know all too well. Here's a guide to where hygiene spills across the border into self-destruction.

Keep That Thing Out of Your Ear

Swirling a swab in your ear canal can cause infections and worse. "Push too far and you can rupture your eardrum," says Timothy Hullar, M.D., an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Washington University, in St. Louis. His advice: Do nothing. "You don't really need to clean your ears."

A few people have trouble with earwax buildup, but they can get by with a few drops of hydrogen peroxide (diluted 50/50 with water) or mineral oil a couple times a week. "Olive oil works, too," Dr. Hullar says, "but you may smell like a salad."

Limit Your Nasal Maneuvers

Did you know that nose drops and sprays can be addictive? Allergy nurse Bonnie Dooley, R.N., of Eastern Virginia Ear, Nose & Throat Specialists, sees patients who can't go an hour without a spritz of 12-hour nasal spray. Overuse causes "rebound swelling" and ever-worse congestion. Extreme spritzing can also mess with your blood pressure, which means there could be such a thing as killer nose drops.

Next time you have a stuffy nose, try plain salt water. Drugstores sell squirt bottles of saline solution—cheap. It eases congestion by moistening dry nasal passages, and can't be overused. Taking an antihistamine or inhaling steam can also loosen mucus.

Cut It Out with the Toenail Trimming

Compulsively trimming your toenails can send a nail burrowing back into your flesh. In extreme cases, you can wind up with a bone infection or gangrenous ulcer that may result in amputation.

Even ordinary ingrown toenails often require "removing a portion of nail and cauterizing the nail root so it will not grow back," says Tracey Toback, D.P.M., of Rhinebeck, New York. His advice: "Never wear shoes that are too tight. Always trim toenails straight across. And do not invade the nail bed by trimming too short, or too deep into the margins."

Lighten Up on Your Teeth

"Brushing your teeth does not require a lot of force," says Atlanta-based Ronald Goldstein, D.D.S., author of Change Your Smile. Yet he's treated men who've brushed away their enamel (the outer covering of the teeth) and kept going until the gum tissue receded.

Continued hard brushing wears away the much softer cementum (covering the root), which may lead to an increased chance of sensitivity, decay, and tooth deformity.

How can you tell if you're brushing too hard? Check your brush. If the bristles are frayed or splayed after a few months' use, you may be an offender.

"If you brush correctly," says Dr. Goldstein, "your brush should look pretty much the same after 6 months as it did when you bought it." And, he adds, "check with your dentist or hygienist to make sure you're brushing the right way for your own mouth."

Likewise, flossing is healthy, but not if you garrote your gums. According to Dr. Goldstein, "a lot of people saw through their gum tissue," yanking floss back and forth through that tender flesh. Move floss gently under the gums to nab food particles, then up and down each side of the tooth.

Hygiene Should Be Only Skin Deep

A 2005 survey at ballparks indicated that 37 percent of men didn't wash their hands after making a deposit at the men's room. Creepy, yes, but then there are those of us who can't stop washing.

Some men rub their skin clean off. "They wash and wash an area and then rub it to make sure it's clean," says California dermatologist Julian Omidi, M.D. "That traumatizes the top layer of skin, which then turns thick and brownish. Nerve endings can become further irritated, triggering a vicious circle of itching and rubbing."

Even mildly neurotic overwashing strips skin of natural oils and can turn your epidermis into something like pimple-covered bark. This can happen on your face, where too much soap can send oil glands into overdrive, plugging pores and follicles, which triggers acne.

Remember, as well, that you could stay perfectly healthy with a weekly bath or shower. When you do scrub up, keep a lid on harsh cleansers. "Try alcohol-free skin-care products," says Dr. Omidi. "Use a gentle foaming cleanser, and don't wash more than twice a day."

You don't need to take extreme measures for exfoliation, either: It's a natural. By the time you take your next breath, more than a thousand dead skin cells will have fallen off your body. Exfoliating with abrasive creams or loofahs accelerates the process, but compulsive use can "denude" the epidermis. Don't exfoliate more than two or three times a week.

Finally, We Reach Your Dirty Bits

While a coffee enema might pep a person up, below-the-belt orifices seldom need cleaning. Rectal itching, a.k.a. pruritus, can result from poor hygiene, as when fecal particles become stuck in skin folds near the anus. But itching and irritation can also be caused by too much rubbing with toilet paper and/or too much washing. The rectal area is naturally oily, which prevents irritation. Don't soap away your natural oils.

The same goes for your package, which requires a lot less maintenance than you might think. "Scrubbing the pubic area too much can cause ingrown hairs that may turn into pustules," says urologist G. Bino Rucker, M.D., of Bradenton, Florida. You should wash carefully but not fiercely. Spare the soap and you won't deplete the oils you need to stave off unsightly events. The best advice: When in doubt, leave your privates in peace.

—Additional reporting by Nicole Maier

Hygiene Beyond Extreme

Dental as Anything
Jeffrey Shapiro, D.D.S., had a patient who flossed so hard that he "sawed through one of his teeth." The guy knew he had a problem when he hit the nerve inside the tooth.

Lube Tube
Michael Abernethy, M.D., an E.R. doc, treated a teenage boy who wanted a well-oiled penis. He used the thin straw on the nozzle of a can of WD-40 to fire the stuff into his urethra. "But WD-40 comes out at high pressure. He wound up with tissue necrosis, skin flaps, and plastic surgery. He will never be sexually functional."

D.I.Y. Surgery
Dr. Abernethy has also seen outdoorsmen who stitched up their gaping wounds. "I call it Rambo syndrome," he says. "They use dental floss or fishing line, with Jack Daniel's as anesthesia." The lucky ones avoid infections, but even they can wind up with "some hideous scarring."

Pubic Service
Shaving pubic hair might seem hygienic, but ingrown pubic hairs can become infected and, in the worst cases, erupt with flesh-eating bacteria. "Ultimately, treatment can be as drastic as removal of the scrotum," says urologist G. Bino Rucker, M.D. "You have to put the testicles in pouches inside the thigh.