Split earlobes are fairly common, particularly amongst the women who had their heyday back in the ’80’s when larger, heavier earrings were the style. A second wave is also starting to hit my office with all of the gauging of earlobes. While a gauge deforms the lobe shape more than a common split, the repair process is fundamentally the same.

So what does the repair involve? Well, it’s actually a pretty quick procedure. I do it in the office and use local anesthesia. So the split or gauge area is injected with lidocaine®. The lidocaine stings a little bit but this only lasts a matter of seconds. The area is numb almost immediately. We clean the ear off to sterilize the skin and then the repair is begun. You can’t sew skin to skin, it would separate the minute the sutures were taken out, so I need to cut away the skin that  lines the split or gauge. This literally takes about 20 seconds. Then the earlobe is sutured back together with a very fine stitch. You will have stitches on the front of the earlobe and on the back. Total repair time is usually 10 minutes or less and then you’re on your way!

Sutures come out in one week and you can re-pierce in 3 months.

Lee Corbett, MD

Medical Director Corbett Cosmetic Aesthetic Surgery and MediSpa