Where to get ears repierced?

December 10, 2018 12:19 PM

A couple earring holes closed enough that I can't push an earring through them. Where should I go to get this taken care of? (NYC or general selection criteria.)

I know I should go somewhere that uses a needle and not a gun, but should I just pick any piercing studio off Yelp with a good review? Location is NYC. If it matters, the piercings were done over a decade ago and have been closed the past couple. I can get earrings halfway through but not all, so it definitely can't be a completely new piercing.

posted by unannihilated to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (7 answers total)

NY Adorned has knowledgeable, professional staff.
posted by Waiting for Pierce Inverarity at 1:04 PM on December 10, 2018

I and several friends have gone to Studio 28! They’re quite nice and professional and are great at talking through placement preferences.
posted by =^.^= at 1:22 PM on December 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

Any piercing parlor can do this, it doesn't have to be a special one. This is quite basic work for any competent piercer, of which I imagine NYC contains hundreds if not thousands. You're right that you should go to a real piercer, but whatever your local tattoo shop is can definitely handle it. Just look them up online and read some reviews to make sure that they're reputable and not sketchy, but seriously whichever parlor is closest to your house is probably totally fine.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 1:47 PM on December 10, 2018 [3 favorites]

Oh, and you probably won't even have to get them repierced, just stretched, since you can get earrings partly through them. AOANLA,T has got it right -- any piercing studio can handle this. They don't even have to deal with placement, since they're existing piercings.

Have fun!
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:01 PM on December 10, 2018

Seconding NY Adorned! Got three in my ear done there.

Three more in my other ear done with J Colby Smith in Williamsburg.

Great experiences at both places and pretty jewelry.
posted by ataco at 6:46 PM on December 10, 2018

If you haven't tried already, try pushing them through backwards and use a straight post (as in from the back of the lobe through to the front instead of from the front to the back.) Often when ears close a little, the tunnel isn't quite lined up and you try to push then through the wrong angle. It's worked for me a ton of times on my second piercings that are touchy and I don't use often. Also worked for my husband. But yes, any good piercing studio will do.
posted by Crystalinne at 7:27 PM on December 10, 2018 [2 favorites]

for background, i have gotten 6 piercings over the past 6 years. i second studio 28, they've done two of my piercings (one was a repiercing for something that had closed) and both times they were very careful and talked through placement. for my repiercing, i ended up moving the location, and they advised on how close to the original we could get. my wife got two lobe piercings reopened there too.

altogether i'd recommend a professional piercing shop over any old shop, simply because there are some considerations to make with repiercings: do you want to use the same location or move slightly? a professional piercer will be able to tell you what your anatomy will permit. in the case of partially closed piercings, they may be able to stretch the healed part open without actually re-piercing. in the case of new piercings, they'll be able to place them in such a way that you minimize risk of continuous irritation/infection from the old piercing later on (scar tissue usually acts up from time to time)

i strongly recommend against doing it yourself. it's your body, you're ostensibly planning to live with this for the rest of your life, so it's worth the $25 to have a pro take a look.
posted by =d.b= at 7:41 AM on December 11, 2018 [1 favorite]