For those who’ve ever worn a pair of heavy earrings, you recognize the sensation of aid once you take away them on the finish of a protracted day. It’s corresponding to the ache and aid of taking your hair down from a decent ponytail or eradicating your bra; it’s the final word freedom.
However how unhealthy 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 a few plastic surgeons to study extra.
Do heavy earrings contribute to sagging earlobes?
Heavy earrings can undoubtedly contribute to lengthening your earlobes over time, particularly as you age — the pores and skin sags extra, and ears, specifically, are inclined to lose quantity. Due to this, once you begin noticing total laxity in your decrease face, it may be time to retire these heavy earrings.
“The earlobes typically start aging with this area,” famous Dr. Jennifer Levine, an award-winning double board-certified plastic surgeon.
“The earlobes appear droopy, especially later in life,” stated Dr. Lyle Leipziger, chief of cosmetic surgery at North Shore College Hospital and LIJ Medical Middle. “Wearing heavy earrings can encourage the downward pull of gravity on the earlobes, creating an elongated and saggy appearance,” 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. “Gradually, natural collagen production fills in this tissue as it stretches, and the stretching can become permanent,” Motakef stated.
Are heavy earrings unhealthy for you?
With extended utilization, heavy earrings can stretch the earlobes and trigger sagging and even tearing. “The earring hole itself may stretch along with the downward displacement of the earlobe,” stated Leipziger. “Downward elongation of the earring hole creates vertical lengthening — the earring hole may appear as a vertical channel instead of a round hole.”
“In some cases, the piercing may pull through the earlobe, creating a split or cleft earlobe,” warned Motakef.
“These issues are more likely when sleeping with them in or having a telephone up to your ear with them on. Putting weight on a delicate area is never ideal,” stated Levine.
How lengthy does it take for harm to be performed?
This relies on the individual and their pores and skin’s laxity, however sporting heavy earrings for lengthy durations isn’t beneficial, particularly if lack of quantity has already occurred.
Harm “can appear anywhere from a few months to a few years of regular use,” stated Motakef.
Who ought to be extra cautious about sporting heavy earrings? There are a number of classes, in keeping with the specialists:
-
Individuals 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)
-
Individuals with a historical past of connective tissues or collagen problems (like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome)
-
Individuals with autoimmune situations like lupus, which may make pores and skin extra fragile and susceptible to break
-
Individuals 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 might be good options once you wish to give your ears a relaxation. Plus, you may generally attempt adhesive lobe assist patches (stickers or bolstered metallic backs) that assist assist earlobes and scale back pressure from heavy earrings, stated Motakef.
In gentle circumstances, sagging earlobes might be reversed utilizing dermal filler injections, stated Levine. Filler can plump and elevate the sagging earlobe and should even enhance the opening sag, too, Leipziger stated.
Nonetheless, extra extreme circumstances require surgical procedure to restore the stretched earlobe. Earlobe restore surgical procedure usually 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 right elongated or cut up earlobes. The same process might be performed to reshape the earlobe and make it extra symmetrical for individuals who wish to improve their total look.
We Want Your Assist
Already contributed? Log in to cover these messages.
After having your earlobe repaired, be certain that you don’t re-pierce your ears in the identical spot. “This may cause the repair to open–the re-piercing of the earlobe can be performed just in front or posterior to the previous earlobe hole approximately three months after the repair,” Leipziger stated.