Should you’ve ever worn a pair of heavy earrings, the sensation of reduction if you take away them on the finish of a protracted day. It’s akin to the ache and reduction of taking your hair down from a good ponytail or eradicating your bra; it’s the last word freedom.
However how dangerous are heavy earrings for our ears? Not solely can they create stretched-out lobes, however they could even trigger you to want medical (and even surgical) intervention.
HuffPost spoke to 3 plastic surgeons to be taught extra.
Do heavy earrings contribute to sagging earlobes?
Heavy earrings can undoubtedly contribute to lengthening your earlobes over time, particularly as you age — the skin sags extra, and ears, specifically, are inclined to lose quantity. Due to this, if you begin noticing total laxity in your decrease face, it is likely to be time to retire these heavy earrings.
“The earlobes sometimes begin ageing with this space,” famous Dr. Jennifer Levine, an award-winning double board-certified plastic surgeon.
“The earlobes seem droopy, particularly later in life,” stated Dr. Lyle Leipziger, chief of cosmetic surgery at North Shore College Hospital and LIJ Medical Middle. “Sporting heavy earrings can encourage the downward pull of gravity on the earlobes, creating an elongated and saggy look,” he added.
Earlobe pores and skin is inherently elastic, stated Dr. Saba Motakef, a board-certified plastic surgeon, however heavy earrings can pull the tissue over time. “Step by step, pure collagen manufacturing fills on this tissue because it stretches, and the stretching can turn into everlasting,” Motakef stated.
Are heavy earrings dangerous for you?
With extended utilization, heavy earrings can stretch the earlobes and trigger sagging and even tearing. “The earring gap itself could stretch together with the downward displacement of the earlobe,” stated Leipziger. “Downward elongation of the earring gap creates vertical lengthening — the earring gap could seem as a vertical channel as a substitute of a spherical gap.”
“In some circumstances, the piercing could pull by way of the earlobe, making a break up or cleft earlobe,” warned Motakef.
“These points are extra possible when sleeping with them in or having a phone as much as your ear with them on. Placing weight on a fragile space isn’t ideally suited,” stated Levine.
How lengthy does it take for harm to be performed?
This will depend on the particular person and their pores and skin’s laxity, however carrying heavy earrings for lengthy durations isn’t beneficial, particularly if lack of quantity has already occurred.
Harm “can seem wherever from just a few months to some years of normal use,” stated Motakef.
Who ought to be extra cautious about carrying heavy earrings? There are just a few classes, in keeping with the specialists:
-
Folks with skinny or stretched earlobes
-
Individuals who have had surgical procedure or different procedures to reverse sagging ears or who’ve a historical past of earlobe tear (they need to by no means put on heavy earrings)
-
Folks with a historical past of connective tissues or collagen issues (like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome)
-
Folks with autoimmune circumstances like lupus, which might make pores and skin extra fragile and susceptible to wreck
-
Folks with a historical past of hypertrophic or keloid scars
-
Individuals who have had their ears pierced within the final three to 6 months.
Specialists say to restrict the usage of heavy earrings as quickly as you discover any indicators of extended redness, discomfort or sagging.
Is there a approach to reverse ear sagging?
Lighter earrings or clip-ons could be good alternate options if you need to give your ears a relaxation. Plus, you may generally strive adhesive lobe help patches (stickers or strengthened metallic backs) that assist help earlobes and cut back pressure from heavy earrings, stated Motakef.
In gentle circumstances, sagging earlobes could be reversed utilizing dermal filler injections, stated Levine. Filler can plump and carry the sagging earlobe and should even enhance the outlet sag, too, Leipziger stated.
Nonetheless, extra extreme circumstances require surgical procedure to restore the stretched earlobe. Earlobe restore surgical procedure sometimes makes use of native anesthesia and takes half-hour to at least one hour.
Surgical procedure ought to totally take away the elongated earring gap or appropriate elongated or break up earlobes. An identical process could be performed to reshape the earlobe and make it extra symmetrical for individuals who need to improve their total look.
We Want Your Assist
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
After having your earlobe repaired, be certain that you don’t re-pierce your ears in the identical spot. “This may occasionally trigger the restore to open–the re-piercing of the earlobe could be carried out simply in entrance or posterior to the earlier earlobe gap roughly three months after the restore,” Leipziger stated.