Earlobe Piercing: Tips, Care, and Considerations

The earlobe is the most commonly pierced body part. You can wear rings, labrets, barbells, and even all sorts of in your earlobe. Not to mention the assortment of materials that you can choose from surgical steel, 14K gold, titanium, and PTFE.

Colors, shapes, textures: there are plenty of choices for your earlobe!

What should I consider before getting an earlobe piercing?

First and foremost: it can be dangerous to get your piercing done in a pharmacy, or a jewelry shop instead of a piercing studio. Here’s why:

1. They likely use a gun. Guns cannot be sterilized in an autoclave, so you risk transferring bacteria and blood from the previous customer.
2. Holes created by a piercing gun are not made the same way as those made by a professional piercer. Professional piercers use hollow needles, which remove a bit of flesh so that the wound can heal properly. Guns, however, "tear" the flesh by pushing through it, which causes trauma to your earlobe.
3. Professional piercers use needles that are slightly thicker than ordinary earring rods. Therefore, if you have your piercing done by a piercer, you’ll be able to use piercing jewelry of at least 1.2 mm of thread thickness. If you have the hole made with a gun, you’ll only be able to wear jewelry of a small thread thickness.

It is also advisable not to have both ears pierced simultaneously, as the ears will be sore and difficult to sleep on afterward. Therefore you might consider piercing one ear at a time.

How should I take care of an earlobe piercing?

It's essential that you follow your piercer's advice when it comes to piercing aftercare. Most piercers recommend to:

• Give your ear as much rest as possible.
• Clean it twice a day or as needed with an isotonic saline solution.
• Change your pillowcases often, as they can harbor a lot of bacteria.

Stretching your earlobe piercing

You have probably heard of stretching your ears before, or maybe you're well on your way?

Once you've decided to start stretching your earlobe, you've also agreed to a permanent body change, depending on the gauge you want to reach.

For stretches up to 8 mm, many people have been able to contract their stretched earlobes.