How to treat dangling earlobes

Dr Ramakrishna suggests methods for treating dangling or stretched earlobes.

Heavy and dangling earrings may look fashionable but they can cause damage to your earlobes in the long run. Continuous exposure to heavy earrings leads to stretching of the piercings. Dangling ear lobes or torn ear lobes are the results of the increased weight of the ornaments worn in the ear lobe. The ear lobe is made of soft tissue and accommodates a minimum amount of expansion but subsequently, due to excess weight, it gets torn or seen as dangling in some individuals. Read about 7 expert tips to heal your newly pierced ears.

If attended at an early stage, this can be healed by allowing some rest to the earlobes. If the piercing has not stretched too much, you can take a break from wearing danglers or other heavy earrings to allow the piercing to repair on its own. If the hole is too big, surgical intervention is required. Dr R. Ramakrishnan, Consultant, ENT Surgery, Fortis Malar Hospital Ltd suggests the procedure for treating dangling earlobes:

Damaged or dangling ear lobes will require repair under local anaesthesia by excising the excessive tissue and repairing to get a proper anatomical contour. Earlobe being a very visible structure, cosmesis is very important and hence needs to be repaired with minimal scarring. The scars if any diminish within 3 months. Read: Ear tear treatment and prevention.

Ear lobe repair is also called lobe-pasty and is a cosmetic surgery. It will need only day care admission, the patient can be discharged from the hospital after 2 hours of observation after the procedure. To get best results, the earlobe is repaired completely without any visible hole and left to heal. Ideally, the ear lobe may be pierced after 3 months. Care should be taken that the subsequent earrings being used are of lesser weight.

Image Source: Shutterstock