Gravity and bad earring habits can stretch pierced lobes. Here’s what to do

In my online quest for treatments, I also discovered several DIY remedies of a suspicious nature, such as caulking the hole with toothpaste or crushed aspirin and sealing the opening with tape. The medical experts I spoke with rebutted these ideas. “There is no home remedy that helps this problem,” Amalfi told me. “A topical will not regrow the tissue.”

And Chris Adigun, a board-certified dermatologist and medical director of the Dermatology & Laser Center in Chapel Hill said medicine-cabinet recipes can compound the trauma.

So, how do you know if your ears require medical intervention? There are several signs: if the earring points down instead of straight. If your lobes are different lengths. If the earring with the backing slips through the hole. And of course, in the most extreme scenario, when the jewellery rips through the bottom of the lobe, creating two flaps of skin.

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If the hole is only slightly stretched out, a dermatologist, plastic surgeon or other cosmetics professional can inject hyaluronic acid, a temporary dermal filler, into the lobes. Henry compares the procedure to tightening a drawstring purse. “The filler gathers the skin and functionally makes the hole smaller,” she said.

Fillers fade after a year to 18 months, so you will need to re-plump in perpetuity. (Earlobe fillers received an endorsement from reality TV in 2018, when Brielle Biermann, the daughter of Real Housewives Kim Zolciak-Biermann, tweeted, “My mom gets filler in her ears because her diamond earrings are too heavy.”)

Some ears, such as my right one, are too far gone for filler. Surgery is the only solution. Several specialists surgically repair piercings, including plastic surgeons, dermatologists and otolaryngologists with this skill set. Choose a physician who is board-certified in dermatology or plastic surgery or fellowship-trained in facial plastic surgery.

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For the minor operation, the physician will remove the top layer of the skin inside the hole to create an injury similar to road rash. “You know how if you fall and scrape the top layer of skin on the pavement?” said Melissa Johnson, a plastic surgeon with Pioneer Valley Plastic Surgery in Massachusetts, who performed my surgery. “It’s like that.” The raw skin will spur the cells to regenerate and form scar tissue.

This is the reason the doctor can’t simply reduce the elongated portion with a stitch or two; the entire hole must be sealed shut. “It would be like sewing your fingers together,” Amalfi said. “Because they have skin on all sides, they could never heal together. But if both were cut open, they could heal together and be joined.”

During my consultation, Johnson took one glance at my sagging earlobe and knew she had to operate. My hole had stretched from one to five millimetres and was at risk of ripping. Thankfully, my left ear was in better shape. I settled into a chair facing Cat in the Hat artwork by Dr Seuss. She injected a local anaesthesia to numb the ear, then carefully snipped away at the skin using a pair of small scissors. She sewed up the front and back of the hole and covered the stitches with adhesive strips that blended in with my skin tone. The procedure took less than 30 minutes.

Recovery involves a lot of waiting. For the adhesives to fall off. For the stitches to dissolve. For the scar tissue to build up. For the lobe skin to return to at least 80 per cent of its original strength. For six months to pass, when you can wear earrings again – the starter studs of your youth.

On my way out, I scheduled an appointment to have my ear re-pierced in July. Until then, Johnson recommended I embrace statement necklaces and scarves.

The Washington Post

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