Ear lobes are pierced in most girls in childhood and all of us love wearing earrings- small and big through our life, irrespective the age of a woman.
Not having earrings on, leaves an otherwise glamorous face incomplete!
Ear lobes are pierce in their middle so both earrings are placed in the same position.
With aging, injury, infection or excessive load of earrings, the ear lobe hole becomes elongated, resulting in downward shift of any earring worn.
When excessively elongated, earrings may just come out of the hole along with its screw and at times the entire ear lobe also maybe torn completely!
Ear lobe repair or Auroplasty is a surgery done to repair the elongated hole made in the ear lobe. One or both affected lobes can be operated upon simultaneously.
Day care surgery
Anaesthesia : local
Procedure: There are three methods of doing this:
- Method 1: With preservation of hole- it involves making the edges of the hole raw and then suturing the skin layer in front and at the back of the ear along the entire length except leaving behind a small opening at the uppermost end to wear earrings. Here a small flap is raised from one side to line the hole.
- Method 2: Without preservation of hole- here the entire length of the hole is made raw and sutured without leaving behind any opening. About 3 months after this surgery a new hole is pierced adjacent to the stitch/ repair line so the problem does not recur.
- Method 3: With cartilage graft- elongated ear lobes in young females or in those where it has recurred after a repair, repair is done adding a small disc of cartilage in between the skin layers in front and behind. This bolsters the repair site. When the lobe is then pierced, the piercing is done through the cartilage which is strong than skin and hence, the hole will not elongate in future giving a long term satisfactory result.
Making a new hole: in methods 2 and 3, a new hole can be made after atleast three months so the skin repaired gets back a reasonable strength.
Go on get those lovely earrings back in place perfectly without worrying about their weight!