Hello,

Cleaning ears with any solid objects including cotton ear buds by self is not advisable. Your boy friend might have put pushed the solid wax further in with ear bud, which must have impinged deep into the ear injuring ear drum (tympanic membrane). Or he must have directly injured the lining of his ear canal or ear drum (tympanic membrane) while cleaning. The silver looking thing u observed might be wax or simply ear drum.

In either case if there is nothing to worry if he has no severe pain, ringing in ear or hearing loss. Take him to an ENT surgeon to examine the ear and see for any impinged wax or ear drum rupture. Keep the ear dry and do not use any water or ear drops to clean before consulting doctor. In case of impinged hard wax, ENT doctor will remove it using wax softeners or curette. Injured or perforated ear drum should be best left alone as it will heal naturally. He must avoid swimming and water entry into the ear during bathing etc., till the ear is totally healed. Ear drops are not required except sometimes doctor may apply trichloroacetic acid drops for quick healing. In future discourage him to cleaning earwax by any means as inserting any object into ear can be harmful. There is no need to clean ear wax as ear has a natural cleaning mechanism.

I hope this helps you. Thank you.