Can you help my ear lobe heal?
October 5, 2020 7:07 PM Subscribe
I damaged my ear lobe with earrings. Can you help?
Many years ago, I wore earrings for a while. I guess I wore them too long before taking them out. The holes got elongated. So I stopped wearing earrings.
Then last year, I decided to try again. I got new earrings in new holes. But some time in the past week, I mistakenly put an earring in an old hole. The hole got elongated again. The back of the earring could be seen from the front. The earring could have maybe even fallen out. My wife estimates about half a centimeter, or ¾, of the ear lobe is left past the bottom of the hole.
Here are pictures: 1, 2, 3.
Do you have any ideas to help heal my ear lobe?
Should I give up on earrings, or just have someone else put them in, to make sure the earrings go in the correct, healthy, hole?
Many years ago, I wore earrings for a while. I guess I wore them too long before taking them out. The holes got elongated. So I stopped wearing earrings.
Then last year, I decided to try again. I got new earrings in new holes. But some time in the past week, I mistakenly put an earring in an old hole. The hole got elongated again. The back of the earring could be seen from the front. The earring could have maybe even fallen out. My wife estimates about half a centimeter, or ¾, of the ear lobe is left past the bottom of the hole.
Here are pictures: 1, 2, 3.
Do you have any ideas to help heal my ear lobe?
Should I give up on earrings, or just have someone else put them in, to make sure the earrings go in the correct, healthy, hole?
Best answer: Like countrymod, I'm also wondering whether you have something unusual going on. What you're describing sounds to me fairly extreme. Unless you were wearing very heavy earrings before, I'm not sure how what you're describing would occur. Since countrymod mentioned allergy/sensitivity, as a point of reference, I think I have a nickel allergy, but it manifests other than what you're describing: when I wear "normal" earrings, my ear lobs swell up such that I have trouble putting in earrings again for a few days once I have worn them once. So it sounds sort of the opposite, and I'm not sure what yours could be, but it's worth exploring as I could see your new piercing holes potentially being affected over time in the same way.
If you want a fix that might be too extreme/expensive for you to want to consider, I believe plastic surgeons can cut and sew up old piercing holes in ways that get them to close permanently with the least scarring (obviously, they're far more attuned to the aesthetics than most doctors). Might be worth seeing two or three and getting some estimates (including inquiring whether it could be covered by insurance - I doubt it but worth asking!). If you're very attached to the idea of wearing earrings, it might be worth the cost to you to get the problem solved by a doctor.
posted by ClaireBear at 7:37 PM on October 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
If you want a fix that might be too extreme/expensive for you to want to consider, I believe plastic surgeons can cut and sew up old piercing holes in ways that get them to close permanently with the least scarring (obviously, they're far more attuned to the aesthetics than most doctors). Might be worth seeing two or three and getting some estimates (including inquiring whether it could be covered by insurance - I doubt it but worth asking!). If you're very attached to the idea of wearing earrings, it might be worth the cost to you to get the problem solved by a doctor.
posted by ClaireBear at 7:37 PM on October 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
Obviously these are anecdotal and/or unofficial and on the internet, but here and here are a few preliminary resources that might be helpful as you do some research about possibilities.
posted by ClaireBear at 7:44 PM on October 5, 2020
posted by ClaireBear at 7:44 PM on October 5, 2020
Best answer: One last thing: plastic surgeons are often really good at hiding scars, or making them as inconspicuous as possible based on their knowledge of skin and its healing. Many other doctors are quite the opposite. I had a mole removed by a jack-of-all-trades doctor and the level of skin trauma/scarring was high even 20 years later; in contrast, an analogous procedure by a plastic surgeon left basically no scar a year later. Worth the money to do it right, to me.
posted by ClaireBear at 7:47 PM on October 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by ClaireBear at 7:47 PM on October 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks, these are helpful. The plastic surgery cost seems much more reasonable than I expected.
I don't know why this happened to my ears. My earrings have never been big or heavy.
posted by NotLost at 8:42 PM on October 5, 2020
I don't know why this happened to my ears. My earrings have never been big or heavy.
posted by NotLost at 8:42 PM on October 5, 2020
Best answer: I have a nickel allergy, and as it was developing, my (navel) piercing went very weird. The piercing was a few years old and healed, but suddenly it was just a constant cycle of inflammation that ended up with the hole getting big and gross. Now I can only wear absolutely nickel-free earrings in my ears , or the weirdness starts up there, too. I wonder if some kind of allergy/sensitivity caused this, too. Do you have slow wound healing or irritation/inflammation-prone skin?
From photo 3, it looks like the edges of the wound are fairly healed, like the inside of a well-healed piercing. If that's the case, I don't know that it will ever go back to normal without help. I know that repairing lobes that previously had large gauge piercings is a not uncommon thing, and I think that's your best bet, since it's a similar kind of damage to repair. If I recall correctly, even some dermatologists do it, so I think starting with a derm is the way I'd go.
posted by mostlymartha at 10:29 PM on October 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
From photo 3, it looks like the edges of the wound are fairly healed, like the inside of a well-healed piercing. If that's the case, I don't know that it will ever go back to normal without help. I know that repairing lobes that previously had large gauge piercings is a not uncommon thing, and I think that's your best bet, since it's a similar kind of damage to repair. If I recall correctly, even some dermatologists do it, so I think starting with a derm is the way I'd go.
posted by mostlymartha at 10:29 PM on October 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Do you use a mirror when putting in your earrings? That could help you be sure they go into the correct hole.
posted by heatherlogan at 7:23 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by heatherlogan at 7:23 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers. For the short term, I plan to get some antibacterial soap, and look into plastic surgery for the long term.
posted by NotLost at 8:41 PM on October 6, 2020
posted by NotLost at 8:41 PM on October 6, 2020
I'd skip the antibacterial soap and just wash the area with salt water. That's the recommended approach for piercings and a more gentle way to keep the area clean and infection-free while also promoting healing. Soaps and things like hydrogen peroxide or alcohol can irritate the skin so much that healing progress backslides.
posted by quince at 1:07 PM on October 7, 2020
posted by quince at 1:07 PM on October 7, 2020
Something that I have always found very helpful when my ear (and other past) piercings are painful and/or kind of infected is to take an earring (ideally the stud/post type) and smear it good with polysporin or something similar, put it through the hole and take it out again, just so it gets the medication onto the part that is irritated. It usually isn't fun to do (because OW), but it always helps.
posted by urbanlenny at 9:55 PM on October 8, 2020
posted by urbanlenny at 9:55 PM on October 8, 2020
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At a minimum you should probably give the piercing some time to heal and wash it regularly with antibacterial soap. You may want to think about different styles of earrings when you try again (like a hoop instead of a traditional pin back).
This also seems like a great question to reach back out to your piercing shop to help with. A professional piercer can help you install semi-permanent jewelry into the hole you want to retain (particularly if it needs more healing time) and advise on healing/reducing the elongated hole.
Soap recommendation: Provon Antimicrobial Lotion Soap. Really amazingly stuff.
posted by countrymod at 7:18 PM on October 5, 2020 [2 favorites]