Not all celebrities are comfortable opening up about their past plastic surgery, but talk show host, Kelly Ripa, certainly is. The television personality just revealed a plastic surgery procedure that she’s previously had done, and fans are pretty surprised by her choice.
The 49-year-old opened up to followers on her latest Fashion Finder segment on Instagram TV, disclosing that she has gotten surgery to fix her earlobes.
“I had gauges, like hanging gauges,” says Ripa in the video. “See these holes up here?” Ripa adds while pointing to her earlobes. “These were my earholes that tore all the way through. So I had to go to a plastic surgeon. There’s a piece of my earlobe that’s not there because he had to sew it together.”
Related: Kim Kardashian West Is Already Researching Procedures for This Area for When She Turns 50
In the video, Ripa explained that her “gauges” were due to heavy, hanging earrings that eventually tore through her earlobe. “This one really recovered very nicely. This one is perfect,” she comments while pointing to her left ear. “[The right one] was just way worse. The damage was worse.”
Interestingly, this is a more common procedure than one might be led to believe, and patients who have had the surgery are pretty happy with their results. After all, it has a RealSelf Worth It Rating of 95%. The surgery restores earlobes that have been stretched or ripped from age or, in Ripa’s case, the use of heavy earrings.
The entire procedure takes only 15 minutes to an hour and is rather simple. The doctor—who is typically an ear, nose, and throat specialist (otolaryngologist), plastic surgeon, or dermatologic surgeon—cuts the edges of the tear or hole and then sutures it back together.
Lucky for Ripa (and anyone else undergoing earlobe surgery), you can get your ears repierced two to six months post-procedure, so don’t pack away your earrings just yet. But maybe this time around, stick to studs instead of heavy dangling jewelry—your ears will thank you.
