earrings: must-have fashion accessory or health hazard?

(ASDS) - Earlobe tears are a common problem facing cosmetic surgeons. For ages, ear piercing has been used for individual expression. While the lobe may be the canvas for your expression, piercing puts it at risk to be torn. Whether torn by accident, the result of wearing heavy earrings, chronic friction from the telephone, or simply due to poor piercing technique, a tear means scarring and, depending on the deformity, surgical reconstruction.

The anatomy of a tear is quite simple. The ear lobe is only skin and fat with no hard cartilage to act as an obstacle. That’s why earlobes can and do tear easily. Most tears are the result of getting caught on an object or having a young child pull on an earring. Fashion accessories with large hoops or large, heavy items are more likely to cause a tear at some point. Even small earrings can cause an ear lobe to tear if circumstances are right.

A recent study in the journal Dermatologic Surgery evaluated the treatment techniques available to fix partially torn earlobes. Partial tears occur when the piercing canal is elongated or deformed/stretched due to trauma, but has not severed through the earlobe. The difficulty with partially torn lobes is to repair them without causing elongation of the lobule.

Experts in the study concluded that the best cosmetic treatment is the “purse-string method” which has several advantages over other techniques. The “pursestring” repair has the ability to restore the rounded look of the lobe, avoids linear scars, and the surgical procedure is easy to conduct.

“This procedure is performed under local anesthetic and takes about 10 minutes to complete,” says Holly Hahn, MD, of Rochester’s Genesee Valley Laser Centre. “The piercing canal is removed with a surgical blade and a suture is used to close the defect in a “purse-string” fashion with the knot placed at the top of the incision.”

When you return from this outpatient surgery, the wound must be washed with soap and water regularly. The only other necessary medication is antibiotic ointment. The sutures are removed after 1 week, and after just 6 weeks you can once again don a pair of earrings.

But be sure to follow these tips to prevent future tears:

• Don’t wear heavy, dangly earrings
• Avoid wearing earrings to sleep
• Have your ears re-pierced using a proper technique.

Women, and some men, like to wear earrings, but a tear in the earlobe can present a deformity, leave scars, and mean it will be difficult, if not impossible to wear jewelry there. Fortunately through the “purse-string” technique the ear can be repaired, scars removed, and earrings worn again.

If you would like more information on this topic, the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery has prepared a list of tips to consider when obtaining a piercing. To review the list, go to www.asds.net.

Rochester Resource Genesee Valley Laser Centre (585) 424-6770