My ears are stretched and very thin. Is there any way to thicken up the skin so I can continue wearing large-gauge earrings?

Question

My ears are stretched to 7/8" diameter. The left one is fine and has thickened up due to daily emu oil massages. The right one was originally pierced very low when I was young. When I decided to start stretching I had to have tiny pieces of my ear cut away to make the hole bigger. Now I am left with a very thin lobe on the bottom. I do daily massages and while I notice some improvement I do think I need surgery of some sort to thicken up the area. What can I do?

Stephen Weber MD, FACS · Answer

Any maneuver that was performed to thicken the rim of your piercing would usually requires making the piercing a smaller gauge. Once you re-stretch it, that tissue might thin to an even greater degree. Fillers are an option but usually will just plump the tissue. Stretching that area would likely just rearrange the filler and result in no sustainable change to your lobes. I hope this information is helpful for you.Stephen Weber MD, FACSDenver Facial Plastic Surgeon

Ronald J. Edelson, MD · Answer

I think it's great that you are planning on getting your gauges fixed. I have done many earlobe repairs as bad or worse than yours with excellent results.  However, don't try to re pierce and stretch them again.  That would create a mess that may be beyond repair.  When you gave decided to get them fixed, just be done with the whole gauge thing and get them repaired properly.  I do many of these repairs and I charge $700 for both ears.  For women, the earlobe can be re pierced , but trying to stretch them out again is a mistake.

Michael I. Echavez, MD · Answer

Unfortunately, I do not think there are many good options for you in terms of trying to thicken your earlobe skin to allow you to wear large gauge earrings.  It would be possible to surgically alter your earlobe to make the skin thicker, but this would weaken the amount of stretch you could put on the skin and wouldn't allow you to wear large gauge earrings.

Michael Zarrabi, MD · Answer

Unfortunately there is no great solution. Dermal fillers are temporary. You could consider injection of fat into the thin part of the earlobe. What will most likely happen with time is the continued gradual thinning of the skin. Consider not wearing the earrings for some time to allow the skin to tighten back up. Then go down one size.

Michael M. Kim, MD · Answer

Hello Arzenika,I don't believe that there are any reliable solution for this. I supposed that it might be possible to inject a material such as restylane into that thin area to create more volume, but this does carry some risk as well. From a surgical perspective, you could potentially excised the thinner area, but that would be followed by a lengthy time period when you would not be able to wear your jewelry and that scar site would always be weaker than the surrounding tissue.Michael M. Kim, MD

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My ears are stretched and very thin. Is there any way to thicken up the skin so I can continue wearing large-gauge earrings?

Answers (5)

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