Cleft Earlobe/Earlobe Lift Gallery

A woman in her mid 20’s with a double split of her earlobe from sleeping with her earrings in.
She is shown before and again, 3 months after repair, and just before re-piercing her ear.

A double split is a little more difficult to repair. We could have excised and repaired each split separately but in her case there was enough ear lobe so that both splits were excised as a single wedge and repaired as a single line.

A woman in her early 50’s who is bothered by a partial cleft of her earlobe. Her earrings fall through her ear, and she is also bothered by a drooping appearance of the earlobe. She is shown 3 months after an earlobe repair/lift in the office under local anesthesia. A wedge is marked by swinging the earlobe back and forth past an imaginary point. She is thrilled with her improvement and is shown just after repiercing her ear in the office.

A woman in he r early 30’s with gauges. She no longer feels that this fits her image and wanted to have these repaired. She is shown before and again, 3 months after reshaping and repair of her earlobes in the office under local anesthesia. Scars typically are at their thickest and reddest at 6 weeks and then start to fade and improve over the next 2 years. Her scars are typical for the 3 month time after surgery, and will continue to fade. She is thrilled to have normal appearing ear lobes again.

A woman in her early 70’s with bilateral cleft earlobes as well as drooping of the earlobes. She is shown before and, 3 months after a bilateral earlobe lift.
In an earlobe lift, a wedge is carefully marked by swinging the earlobe back and forth past an imaginary central point. When the wedge is removed, the earlobe is “lifted” by removing the excess skin.

A woman in her later 30’s with bilateral split earlobes, right more than left, who would like to have this corrected. She is shown before and again, 3 months after repair. After the new re-piercings have healed ( typically 3-4 weeks) she will begin to remove her earrings a night while sleeping to help prevent a recurrence.

A woman in her mid 30’s with a partial cleft of her left ear piercing. The backs pull through the ear and the earring “hangs” at a funny angle. She is shown before and again, 3 months after repair. She already has a second piercing nearby and did not need to have the earlobe re-pierced. I have recommended that she get in the habit of removing her earrings when sleeping to help prevent a recurrence. The posts of the earrings catch on the pillow at night and lever back and forth against the earlobe, slowly cutting through it.

A woman in her early 30’s with a complete traumatic cleft of her left ear and a partial cleft on her right. She also has some drooping of the earlobe. She elected for a bilateral earlobe lift. A lift differs from a simple repair by removing a wedge of skin that is marked by swinging the earlobes back and forth past an imaginary center point. She is shown 4 months after the ear lobe lift and again, just after re-piercing her ears in the office.

A woman in her late 20’s who has a complete cleft of her left earlohe that finished tearing while she was running a marathon.  Her right earlobe piercing has started to stretch and she would like to have both repaired.  She is shown before and again, 3 months after a bilateral cleft earlobe repair, and again, just after re-piercing.  In order to decrease the chance of this happening again I have advised that she start to remove her earrings at night while sleeping, once the new piercings have healed in 3-4 weeks.  I think that the earring posts will lever back and forth across the earlobe when a patient is sleeping and it is pressed against the pillow, slowly cutting through the earlobe like a wire cutting through a piece of cheese.

A woman in her early 70’s with bilateral cleft earlobes from earrings. She also has age related drooping of her earlobes. She was marked for a bilateral ear lobe lift. A wedge is marked by swinging the earlobe back and forth across an imaginary central point. This extra tissue is excised at the time of the cleft earlobe repair. The earlobe is “lifted” by removing this excess tissue and has a more youthful look after surgery. She is shown again, 3 months after surgery.

A woman in her late 20’s with a cloft of her left ear for the last 2 years. She is shown before and again, 3 months after repair in the office, when she returned for re-piercing.