Cleft Earlobe/Earlobe Lift Gallery

A woman in her early 50’s with a recurrent, double split of her right earlobe which was repaired elsewhere 3 years before but has split again. She does sleep with her earrings in place.
She is shown before and again, 3 months after repair of the double split using the wedge of an earlobe lift. Scars get redder for 6 weeks and then fade and improve over the next year or longer. She is thrilled to have a normal contour again, and we repierced her ear for her in the office. I have recommended that she review my video on “the split earlobe” to try and avoid this happening again.

A woman in her early 30’s with mild drooping of her right earlobeas well as a right ear tear and a left ear partial tear. The right ear seems to be tearing more as she has been wearing studs at night while she sleeps. She has had her left earlobe repaired which she was much younger.
She is shown before and again, 3 months after a bilateral earlobe lift/repair.

A woman in her late 40’s with a complete cleft of her right earlobe and a partial cleft of the left earlobe, as well as drooping of both earlobes. She is shown before and again, 3 months after bilateral earlobe lift combined with cleft repair. She was able to use her prior hole on the right earlobe. We will re-pierce the left earlobe for her in the office. She is thrilled to not only have repaired her split, but to have more beautiful earlobes as well.

A woman in her early 40’s who feels that her earlobes are “droopy” She is shown before and again, 6 months after bilateral earlobe lift.

A woman of color in her early 30’s with a less common cleft/ notch/split of her mid ear following a “piercing gone wrong” in college. She is bothered by the notch of the mid ear. She is shown just 6 weeks after surgery. The scar is typically at the reddest and thickest 6 weeks after surgery and will continue to fade and improve over the next year or two. Already she is thrilled with the correction of the notch and restoration of a normal contour. One of the dissolvable sutures that had not yet come out was removed from the back of the ear just before the photo, where she shows a small drop of bleeding.

A woman in her mid 20’s with a partial cleft of her right earlobe for the past 3 years. Her earrings “hang funny” because of the length of the hole. She does sleep with her earring in and this is the side that she sleeps on.
She is shown before and again, 3 months after right cleft earlobe repair under local anesthesia in the office and again, just after re-piercing. Scars typically become thicker and redder for 6 weeks and then begin to fade and soften over the next 1-2 years. I typically like to wait 3 months to re-pierce the ear.

A woman of color in her early 20’s who had had a complete tear of her right earlobe for a few years. She is not sure how this happened originally but does sleep on this side and did sleep with her earrings in. She is shown before and again, 3 months after repair in the office.

A woman in her early 60’s with a complete cleft of her right ear and a partial cleft of her left ear. She does sleep with her earrings in and notice that this gradually became longer until it tore through completely. She initially had her ears pierced at the age of 8. She also has a droopy appearance of the earlobes. She is shown just before and again, 3 months after bilateral earlobe lift when she returned to have her ears re-pierced. With an earlobe lift, a wedge is marked by swinging the earlobe back and forth across an imaginary central point. As this wedge of excess tissue is removed it “lifts” the earlobe and gives is a more youthful appearance. Scars typically become thicker and redder for 6 weeks and then fade and improve over the next 1 1/2- 2 years.

A woman in her mid 50’s with a partial tear of her right earlobe for many years that makes it difficult to wear earrings. She did not remove her earrings for sleeping and this is the side that she sleeps on.

She is shown before and again, 3 months after repair in the office under local when she returned for re-piercing in the office. I recommend that she clean the new piercing with hydrogen peroxide a few times a day and wear a Bandaid at night while sleeping for the first 3-4 weeks. At that point the piercing hole should be healed enough to change earrings and she should remove them while sleeping. My theory is that the earring post levers back and forth against the earlobe as it rubs against the pillow, slowing cutting through the earlobe like a wire cutting through a cheese.

A woman of color with a partially torn right earlobe. This makes her earrings hang at a funny angle. She has torn this before and had it repaired before. She does sleep with her earrings in place. She is shown before and again, 3 ½ months after repair in the office. It is great to fix things but it is better to prevent things. So I have recommended that she get in the habit of removing her earrings while sleeping to prevent this from tearing again. My theory is that the earring pulls back and forth across the pillow while sleeping and slowly cuts through the earlobe like a wire cutting through a cheese.