Earwig Crawling in the Ear: Myth or Truth

A 24-year-old man presented to our outpatient clinic with the left tinnitus and otalgia, which had awakened him early in the morning. Otoendoscopic examination revealed an earwig crawling in the external auditory canal. The earwig was carefully taken out with ear forceps. The tympanic membrane and external auditory canal were normal without traumatic lesions, and audiometric testing revealed normal hearing. Earwigs are insects of the order Dermaptera, and the name "earwig" originated from an ancient superstition that earwigs burrow through the external auditory canal and eat sleeping persons’ brains. Although this superstition turned out to be unfounded, the earwigs sometimes do enter the ear.