Ear candling, also called ear coning or thermal-auricular therapy, is an alternative medicine practice claimed to improve general health and well-being by lighting one end of a hollow candle and placing the other end in the ear canal. Medical research has shown that the practice is both dangerous and ineffective[1] and does not help remove earwax or toxicants.[2] The claim by one manufacturer that ear candles originated with the Hopi tribe is also false.[3]