Ear piercing

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Pierced ears are earlobes or the cartilage portion of the external ears which have had one or more holes created in them for the wearing of earrings. The holes may be permanent or temporary. The holes become permanent when a flesh tunnel is created by scar tissue forming around the initial earring.

Piercing techniques

A variety of techniques are used to pierce ears, ranging from "do it yourself" methods using household items to medically sterile methods using specialized equipment.

A long-standing home method involves using ice as a local anesthetic, a sewing needle as a puncture instrument, a burning match and rubbing alcohol for disinfection, and a semi-soft object, such as a potato, cork, or rubber eraser, as a push point. Sewing thread may be drawn through the piercing and tied, as a device for keeping the piercing open during the healing process. Alternatively, a gold stud or wire earring may be directly inserted into the fresh piercing as the initial retaining device.

Another method for piercing ears, first made popular in the 1960s, was the use of sharpened spring-loaded earrings known as self-piercers, trainers, or sleepers, which gradually pushed through the earlobe. However, these could slip from their initial placement position, often resulting in more discomfort, and many times would not go all the way through the earlobe without additional pressure being applied. This method has fallen into disuse due to the popularity of faster and more successful piercing techniques.


Pierced ear with traditional starter studEar piercing instruments, sometimes called ear piercing guns, were originally developed for physician use but with modifications became available in retail settings. Today most people in the Western world have their ears pierced with an ear piercing instrument in speciality jewelry or accessory stores, or at home using disposable ear piercing instruments. Two of the most popular systems are the Studex 75 and the Inverness system. An earlobe piercing performed with an ear piercing instrument is often described as feeling similar to being pinched, or being snapped by a rubber band.

An alternative and growing practice is to use a hollow piercing needle, as is used for body piercing. This technique is similar to the early sewing needle approach.

In tribal cultures and among some neo-primitive body piercing enthusiasts, the piercing is made using other tools, such as bone spurs.

Initial healing time for an earlobe piercing performed with an ear piercing instrument is typically 6-8 weeks. After that time, earrings can be changed, but if the hole is left unfilled for an extended period of time, there is some danger of the piercing closing. Piercing professionals recommend wearing earrings in the newly pierced ears for at least 6 months, and sometimes even a full year. Cartilage piercings will usually require more healing time than earlobe piercings, sometimes 2-3 times as long. After healing, earlobe piercings will shrink to smaller gauges in the prolonged absence of earrings, but may never completely disappear.

The health risks with conventional earlobe piercing tend to be minimal, particularly if proper technique and hygienic procedures are followed. Earlobes will sometimes develop a minor infection. More commonly, the person will develop an allergic reaction to nickel in some jewelry. Earlobe tearing, during the healing period or after healing is complete, can be minimized by not wearing earrings, especially wire-based dangle earrings, during activities in which they are likely to become snagged, such as while playing sports. Also, larger gauge jewellery will lessen the chance of the earring being torn out.

With cartilage piercing, the blunt force of an ear piercing instrument will traumatize the cartilage, and therefore make healing more difficult. Also, because there is substantially less blood flow in ear cartilage than in the earlobe, infection is a much more serious issue. There have been several documented cases of people developing severe infections of the upper ear following piercing with an ear piercing instrument, which required courses of antibiotics and/or surgery to clear up.

For all ear piercings, the use of a sterilized hollow piercing needle tends to minimize the trauma to the tissue, and minimize the chances of contracting a bacterial infection during the procedure. As with any invasive procedure, there is always a risk of infection from blood borne pathogens such as hepatitis and HIV. However, modern piercing techniques make this risk extremely small (the risk being greater to the piercer than to the piercee due to the potential splash-back of blood). It is worth noting that there has never been a documented case of HIV transmission due to ear/body piercing or tattooing, although there have been instances of the Hepatitis B virus being transmitted through these practices.

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