Earlobe Repair

• Split earlobes or enlargement occur because of prolonged use of heavy earrings.
• Repeated pulling of earrings while wearing and removing clothing can cause trauma to the lobes.
• At times, it may happen in people who don’t have pierced ears too. This is generally due to congenital causes.
• Even with clip-on earrings stretching, splitting or enlargement may happen.
• If the clip-on is too tight, the blood flow gets restricted. This can cause necrosis in part of the lobe.

Short, simple and sweet is the procedure for earlobe repair. It can be performed on anyone who has had piercings for a long time. The one-day procedure takes at the max 45 minutes. For just one earlobe, the time is even less.

• The first step is marking the skin to show the patient the final scar line.
• The ear is then cleaned, followed by a local anaesthetic.
• The actual surgery involves cutting the skin surrounding the enlarged hole or split.
• Cutting the skin helps preserve the ear’s natural shape by removing any additional skin on the lobe’s inside edge.
• The skin is stitched together using W-plasty, a technique that uses very fine sutures. There is no notching as the skin heals.
• At times, the back and front of the lobe are approximated with skin glue.
• Finally, the earlobe is dressed, and the patient is discharged.
• In rare cases, fillers are also utilised to impart a fuller and plump look to the lobes.