Here are some tips to help you avoid stretched or ripped earring holes:

Ear piercings can stretch over time, especially with the repeated and frequent wear of heavy earrings that pull and elongate the skin tissues in the region. A once tiny hole can become a very large hole – either via intentional body art modification or unwanted stretching of the earlobe over time.

Um, do heavy earrings actually stretch out your ears? That would be a “yeah.” My grandma was spot-on, unfortunately. If you wear statement earrings with real weight to them all the time, you can stretch your lobes, and you can also elongate the holes your earring backs poke into.

1. Stick to lightweight or threader earrings.
2. Only wear heavy earrings for short periods.
3. Avoid wearing earrings that can easily snag.
4. Remove your earrings before bed.

A stretched ear can grow back if you didn’t stretch it too far. Extreme stretching may leave permanent holes in your earlobes. Stretched ears can be surgically repaired.

The most straightforward way to shrink stretched earlobes is to size down the gauges you’re currently wearing. If you’ve only stretched your piercings one size or two, you can likely just take the earrings out for a couple of weeks and see the piercing return to normal.

The truth is that most stretched ears will shrink at least a little if you remove your jewellery, but most will not go back to their unstretched gauge. 10mm is often cited as the point of no return, but the fact is that everyone is different.

In general, the cost of earlobe surgery ranges from about $400 to $900, although it can be higher for more extensive tears. The procedure is not typically covered by insurance, as it is purely cosmetic. If the cost is prohibitive, ask your surgeon about financing plans.

Because your ear lobes have healed around the tunnel, plug, or taper you used to stretch the ear, your ears will never completely close. Keep in mind that your best expectation is to shrink the size of the holes. If you experienced tearing, infections, or blowouts, your ears may not shrink as much.

Your skin secretes a natural oil called sebum which can mix with the dead cells in your piercings and cause a buildup. This buildup serves as a great environment for bacteria to thrive and hence you end up with a foul smell.

Almost any hole in the ear eventually doesn’t close. So, for the people stretching their ear holes with the gauges, it’s a permanent thing.

What size can I stretch up to without permanent damage? There are a lot of different opinions on this topic, but the majority of professionals in the body modification industry recommend never going any larger than 2 – 0 gauge if you want your ears to totally close up where you can’t see through them.

Convert Ear Gauge to mm and Inch

What size do you stretch to first? When you start stretching your ears, you will most commonly get a 14 gauge piercing size. Once you decide on stretching you’ll then increase to a size 12 gauge (2mm) taper. If you’ve had pierced ears for some time you may find that you’ve already stretched your ears slightly.

Stretching takes time. For the health of your lobes, and to avoid tears while stretching, you should only stretch one gauge at a time, and you should wait at least 6 weeks between each stretch, but many piercers recommend waiting 2 – 3 months for the safest results.

A “blow out” happens when you stretch your ear too fast and scar tissue builds up in the hole. This can result in permanent scarring. Stretching too quickly can tear your ear tissue in half or cause earlobe skin to detach and hang from your head.

The process of stretching your ears is uncomfortable and will cause discomfort although there are ways to minimize pain. We recommend that you stretch slowly and give your ears time to heal before going up to the next size. Moving too fast while stretching is a big driver of pain.