Don't freak out, but we're pretty sure we've found the next Dr. Pimple Popper. Except, instead of popping pimples, this guy removes massive chunks of earwax from people's ears.
Mark Vaughan, the director of the Auburn Medical Group in California, has been posting videos of himself removing giant balls of earwax from his patients' ears for about a year, Insider notes.
Much like the pimple popping videos everyone is obsessed with, people find these videos oddly soothing. The Auburn Medical Group has a YouTube playlist rounding up all 18 earwax removal videos they've posted so far, and it has been viewed more than 145,000 times.
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Of course, plenty of those views may be from people who find these kinds of videos cringeworthy, but can't make themselves look away.
No matter which group you fall into, we're happy to provide you with a few of the most ~interesting~ extractions.
Like, this moment when Dr. Vaughan thought he had gotten all of the wax out, but (surprise!) there was more:
And this time when the earwax he removed was BLACK:
And this video, aptly titled, "LONGEST ear wax ribbon."
Based on the looks on some of his patients' faces, it's clear that getting earwax removed is almost as painful, yet ultimately relieving, as watching it get removed.
Science has already told us why we like watching these kinds of videos. A report from Shape in 2015 discussed why people seek out Dr. Pimple Popper and earwax extraction videos like these.
"It's similar to why people go on roller coasters. You feel fear, even though you know you're safe," Clark McCauley, PhD, a psychology professor at Bryn Mawr College, told Shape. It's okay to watch other people get giant balls of earwax taken out of their ears because we don't have earwax that terrible.
Honestly, it kind of makes you grateful for the tiny bit of earwax you do have, right?
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