How to remove holes from face.

April 7, 2006 7:30 PM

Please help heal holes in my face.

I've recently taken out two twelve guage peircings from the side of my lip after a few years of having them in. I miss them, but I've been taking capoeira. It is in convienient taking them in and out each class, and don't percieve it to be healthy in repitition. I would appreciate any advice on ways that I might help the holes become less visible and heal faster.

Thanks in advance.

posted by Knigel to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

Best answer: If you had them for a few years then there is little you can do to aid in the heeling. The inside half of your lip should heal up fairly quickly on it's own (within a month or two), although the outside may never heal. I had labret piercings for four years, I have now had them out for about 4 years and they are as visible as they ever were.

If you are really adamant about having the hole heal over then you do have two options.

1) Make a visit to a plastic surgeon. They will make a small incision removing the "tube" of scar tissue that has healed around the piercing, they will then stitch the hole closed and it will heal over. There will be a small scar in its place but it won't be as noticeable as the original hole. I had this done to my gaged ears, although they were 3/4" and as such I have much more scar tissue visible than most would.

2) Go back to the piercing studio. They can re-pierce the same holes using a larger gage needle which will pierce out the existing scar tissue. This will open up new flesh which will then heal over as if it were a fresh piercing. I have seen this work with limited success. You will obviously have a more obvious dot of scar tissue, but some people may prefer this over a hole.
posted by monsta coty scott at 11:27 PM on April 7, 2006

Another data point: I had a 14 gauge lip ring that was taken out in ... 2000? Six years later it's still visible (tiny dot), although usually only other folks who've had lip rings notice.
posted by fishfucker at 1:46 PM on April 10, 2006

I've got shy of a dozen obvious dimple/dots up my ear where all my rings use to be and it's been five years. As fishfucker said though, people don't often notice.
posted by phearlez at 2:53 PM on April 10, 2006