The Blog

Over the last 30 years I have been  seeing patients in the office with earlobe issues.  Patients would come in with split earlobes to have them repaired.  I was not satisfied just to repair the earlobe, but also wondered, how did it happen so they could prevent it from happening again. 

I also wanted to not just repair the split earlobe but also to make an earlobe as aesthetic or beautiful as possible.  I realized that many of the earlobes, in addition to being split were also aged in appearance and learned how to perform earlobe lifts.  Some patients only had one ear that was split and I would simply repair that side.  This was fine in younger patients. But in older  patients with a single split who also had aged earlobes I would try and make the earlobe repair as attractive as possible. At first I would only repair the side that was split in a patient who had aged earlobes with only one split.   

I soon found that  patients were so pleased with the lift that they would come back and want a lift on the opposite ear.  So I learned to analyze both ears and became more ready to recommend a lift on both ears in patients that would benefit. I learned about the proportions that make an ideal earlobe. 

And I started seeing patients with severely stretched earlobes from Gauges who wanted to restore a normal and attractive appearance to their earlobes.  These repairs were even more complicated. 

I decided to put together a video to summarize what I have learned about earlobes and the project grew to the point that I ended up producing 4 separate videos.  I have decided to call the 4 videos together  the “Earlobe University”.  

The first video titled “The split earlobe problem” reviews the four common causes of a split earlobe.  It reviews a typical earlobe repair and the aftercare needed to ensure a good result.

The second video is titled “Creating the Beautiful Earlobe” and does a deep dive on what happens to the ear and earlobe as we age, and what proportions are considered most attractive in a male and female earlobe according to studies done with multiple male and female observers.

The third video “Giving your Earlobes a Lift”  discusses different methods that have been described to perform an earlobe lift, reviews my preferred method,  and shows a variety of before and after photos of patients of different ages who have benefited from an earlobe lift. It shows examples of how  the earlobe lift can be combined with the repair of an earlobe split, slit, and even a double split.  It also shows how an earlobe reduction/lift can be done on patients with hypertrophic or overly large earlobes. 

The fourth video “Fixing the Gauged Earlobe” briefly reviews the history of gauges, reviews a rare published article describing the repair of severely stretched earlobes in Borneo in the 60’s and early 70’s, and shows how I still use this method today.  I also show  multiple  patient examples of a variety of deformities from gauges with before and after photos demonstrating  different methods used in their correction.

 I would recommend that you watch the first three videos in order, as each one builds on information in the videos that come before.  The forth video on gauges repair is of course most applicable to patients with gauges, but will be interesting even to patients without gauges because of the dramatic results. So, the 4 videos together are a fairly complete “education” on earlobes.  I hope you enjoy “Earlobe university” as much as I enjoyed producing it.  And the tuition is free!