Pierced ear

Basar

Got my ear pierced back in high school, about 10 years ago. I think I was in my junior year in college when I stopped wearing earrings so my lobehole hasn't been touched for 6 years? Anwyays, I kinda want to wear an earring again and was wondering if there is anyway to open up this whole (i know how wrong that sounds)? I asked my mom and she said if I massage it with baby oil for a week or so it will probably be good as new but I am a bit suspicious.

Does anyone have any experience? I don't to oil my ear for a week if it aint gonna help. Anyone?

dispatch.o

Aside from stretching and cartilage piercings most holes begin closing within hours of jewelry being taken out. You are probably going to have to just re-pierce it. The upshot of this being that it wont be as painful as last time.

You may even be able to take a piece of clean jewelry soak it in alcohol and then force it back through the little dimples and scar tissue.

You're welcome to massage it with baby oil, but unless there's some sort of voodoo at work, I can't see it doing a thing... cept maybe feeling nice.

LewieP's Mummy

Pinch your ear lobe til its numb (or hold an ice cube on it til its numb) then just push a stud through the hole. They don't always heal closed, just block up with dead skin cells. It may be sore for a while, so treat it like its been newly pierced - salt water bathe, twist the stud 3 times a day. Or get your mum to do it for you.

VisionOfClarity

Mine close up every year or so because I don't wear earrings at all (I'm not sure why I keep reopening them actually). I just put a pair of my gold earrings in and push 'em through. After 6 years I don't know if this would be the best way to do it though.

supabeast

Just go to a tattoo parlor and pay them to stick a nice sterile needle through it.

Basar

I think I am just gonna get it repierced. I am a big pussy when it comes to dealing with this kind of stuff (ie. pushing a stud right in).

Floofy

very simply, what sounds like a better idea?

A. Push an unsterilised blunt bit of metal through a bit of your ear that may or may not have healed up, risking infecting, large amounts of bruising, rejection, crustiness, etc

B. Going to a professional body piercing parlour and getting a very sharp, very clean needle put through by a trained piercer, along with some very clean non reactive new jewellry to go in the brand spanking new hole.

Also, try pinching the lobe where the piercing was, is there a noticeable little lump? If there is that's the scar tissue from your old piercing, and you'll either have to get a new piercing a few mm along or wait a little longer until it's gone down a little. If you can't feel anything it's probably entirely healed and jabbing at the lobe with a stud wouldn't do much at all anyway.

Also, try to avoid anywhere that uses a piercing gun, they just mangle up the surrounding flesh.

Edilith

I'd definitely go and ask a professional piercer about having it redone. That said, have you tried putting a stud gently through to check if they're actually healed? I had mine pierced when I was young and didn't start wearing earrings until about a year ago (I'm nearly 19) and they hadn't closed up at all, so it varies.

LoveIsUnity

Floofy wrote: »

very simply, what sounds like a better idea?

A. Push an unsterilised blunt bit of metal through a bit of your ear that may or may not have healed up, risking infecting, large amounts of bruising, rejection, crustiness, etc

B. Going to a professional body piercing parlour and getting a very sharp, very clean needle put through by a trained piercer, along with some very clean non reactive new jewellry to go in the brand spanking new hole.

Also, try pinching the lobe where the piercing was, is there a noticeable little lump? If there is that's the scar tissue from your old piercing, and you'll either have to get a new piercing a few mm along or wait a little longer until it's gone down a little. If you can't feel anything it's probably entirely healed and jabbing at the lobe with a stud wouldn't do much at all anyway.

Also, try to avoid anywhere that uses a piercing gun, they just mangle up the surrounding flesh.

I came in here to post this exact advice.

Do not take the advice of people telling you to soak something a piercing stud in alcohol and put it back through your ear. I can provide lots and lots of pictures if you want a pictorial as to why this is a terrible idea. (You don't. They're gross.)

ElJeffe

Floofy wrote: »

Also, try pinching the lobe where the piercing was, is there a noticeable little lump? If there is that's the scar tissue from your old piercing, and you'll either have to get a new piercing a few mm along or wait a little longer until it's gone down a little. If you can't feel anything it's probably entirely healed and jabbing at the lobe with a stud wouldn't do much at all anyway.

A little bump might also just be ear gook that collects in there. I had a piercing for about a decade, then stopped wearing an earring in it about 8 years ago. The hole hasn't closed up, but it fills with some nasty white residue that can be expelled by squeezing the lobe really hard.

Just sayin'.

Have you tried just shoving an earring through it to see if it's actually healed over?

Zeromus

LewiePs Mummy wrote: »

Pinch your ear lobe til its numb (or hold an ice cube on it til its numb) then just push a stud through the hole. They don't always heal closed, just block up with dead skin cells. It may be sore for a while, so treat it like its been newly pierced - salt water bathe, twist the stud 3 times a day. Or get your mum to do it for you.

I recently got my ears pierced and I was specifically told not to use salt water to clean them, just baby soap, and that it only irritates the hole to twist the stud, kind of like picking a scab. The place I went to was totally legitimate, also. I got them done nearly three months ago, followed that advice, and never had any problems with them.

They're also six gauges, if that means anything.

VisionOfClarity

Zeromus wrote: »

LewiePs Mummy wrote: »

Pinch your ear lobe til its numb (or hold an ice cube on it til its numb) then just push a stud through the hole. They don't always heal closed, just block up with dead skin cells. It may be sore for a while, so treat it like its been newly pierced - salt water bathe, twist the stud 3 times a day. Or get your mum to do it for you.

I recently got my ears pierced and I was specifically told not to use salt water to clean them, just baby soap, and that it only irritates the hole to twist the stud, kind of like picking a scab. The place I went to was totally legitimate, also. I got them done nearly three months ago, followed that advice, and never had any problems with them.

They're also six gauges, if that means anything.

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