To Swab or Not to Swab

I love cotton swabs. Cleaning my ears is like brushing my teeth- very refreshing. A friend of mine doesn't clean his ears because the doctor told him he shouldn't stick the q-tip in his ear. Two times he was cleaning his ears and he ended up pushing a chunk of wax up against his eardrum and he had to go to the Emergency Room to have it removed. My argument is that if you keep your ear canal clean which means cleaning it consistently, no chunk of wax will get pushed up against your eardrum, but he won't listen. I keep mine clean and it has never happened to me. Doctors don't always know what they are talking about. I think a mature adult can handle the responsibility of sticking the swab in their ear and not damaging anyhing, unless it's already gummed up in there. It has happened to him TWICE. Hmmmm. . . I wonder who is right?