Earlobe Repair

Earlobe Repair – Torn Ear or Enlarged Earlobe

Your ear may be the canvas for your fashion expression, but piercing puts it at risk of being torn. Whether torn by accident, gauging, a sudden pull on an earring by a child, 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.

For those patients who have partial or fully torn ear lobes due to any of the above reasons, we offer surgery to repair them. Even if you feel that your earrings are hanging too low we can eradicate the problem, with a simple, in-office procedure, requiring only local anesthesia. Scarring is almost imperceptible!

After just 6 weeks you can once again put on a pair of earrings.

If you want to avoid surgery or just have lobes that are stretched out, or even a bit wrinkly, we can use our Skin Tightening device to help that without surgery or downtime! See our Skin tightening section.

We recommend these tips for preventing future tears:

• Don’t wear heavy, dangly earrings.
• Avoid wearing earrings to sleep
• Have your ears re-pierced using a proper technique.
• When you playing with the kids, put your earrings aside.

If you want to avoid surgery and just have lobes that are stretched out, or even a bit wrinkly, we can use our Skin Tightening device to help that without surgery or downtime! See our Skin tightening section.

This is what you can expect during the otoplasty procedure:

Anesthesia

Injection of local anesthetic numbs the earlobe. Anesthesia wears off after several hours. After surgery, most patients do not need pain medication. If any pain medication is needed, plain Tylenol or Advil works well.

Postoperative Care

You will need to wash your wound with soap and water three (3) times a day. A thin layer of antibiotic ointment is the only dressing in most cases. You may wash your hair but will have to be careful with blow dryers until sensation returns. (You could burn yourself without knowing it if you are still numb.) Some patients who are having a revision of their first otoplasty may have prolonged numbness. Expect a little drainage from the wound. The sutures are removed in about seven (7) days. You’ll have a temporary ring if Dr. Rubbani rebuilds a hole for you. This ring will come out at two weeks.

The wound starts out firm. The patient should massage their scar with cocoa butter 15 minutes a day starting two weeks after sutures have been removed. The massaging seems to soften the scar over time.