Cleft Earlobe/Earlobe Lift Gallery

A student in her early 20’s with a partial cleft of her right ear which has been present for several years and allows her earrings to fall out. She is shown 3 months after repair under local anesthesia in the office. Scars will typically increase in redness and firmness for 6 weeks as the earlobe heals and then begin to fade and improve over the next 2 years. This is a typical appearance for the 3 month timeframe and a typically a good time to return to have the ear repierced.

A 14 year old young woman with a partial cleft of her right ear which she attributes to wearing heavy earrings. She is shown before and again, 3 months after repair in the office under local anesthesia. Scars typically get thicker and redder for 6 weeks and then begin to fade over the next year or longer.
After re-piercing her ear in the office, I have recommended that once the new piercing heals after 3-4 weeks that she gets in the habit of removing her earrings while sleeping to prevent recurrence. Her left ear is normal so the weight of the earrings is less likely of a factor then having the earrings in while sleeping. When the ear moves against the pillow, the earring post can slowly cut through the earlobe like a wire cutting through a cheese and is the more likely cause.

A man in his later 20’s with gauges of his ears who no longer likes the look. He is shown before and again, 4 months after reconstruction of the earlobes in the office under local anesthesia. Scars are typically at their reddest and thickest at 6 weeks and then begin to soften and fade over the next 18 -24 months. He is thrilled to have a normal earlobe contour again.

A woman in her early 60’s who is bothered by a droopy appearance of her earlobes. She feels like she has “her grandfather’s earlobes”, especially when the weight of an earring is added. She is shown before and again, 3 ½ months after an earlobe lift.
A wedge is precisely marked by swinging the earlobe back and forth across an imaginary central point and the wedge is removed under local anesthesia in the office and repaired.

A woman in her early 30’s who has bilateral earlobe holes which are stretched from heavy earrings and from sleeping with her earrings in at night. She is also bothered by the earlobes hanging when she wears earrings, which give them an aged appearance. She is shown before and again, 3 months after a bilateral ear lobe lift. With a lift, a wedge is precisely marked by swinging the earlobe back and forth across an imaginary central point, to remove the excess earlobe. This wedge is excised and the ears appear lifted after the repair.

A challenging case of a woman in her 50’s with a double split of her left ear and a single split of her right ear. She is shown before and again, 3 months after repair in the office under local anesthesia.

An 11 yo girl who had torn her left pierced ear 5 months before when she caught her earring on the couch. She is shown before and again, 4 months after repair under local anesthesia in the office.

A woman in her early 50’s who stretched her earlobes and piercing with large hooped earrings in the past. Her case is complicated by having multiple piercings, including second piercings near the clefts. The earlobe is also droopy. She was marked for an earlobe lift, using the wedge to remove the cleft and the nearby piercing. She is shown before and again, 3 months after repair. Scars are typically at their reddest and thickest at 6 weeks and continue to fade and improve over the next year or more. At the 3 month mark, where she is now, they are typically soft enough to re-pierce the ears.

A woman in her early 70’s who is bothered by a full cleft of her left ear which happened when she was sleeping. Her right ear has also become progressively stretched. She would like to be able to wear her earrings again. She is shown before and again, 3 months after an ear lobe lift.

A wedge is marked by swinging the earlobe back and forth past an imaginary point. In this way the repair also “lifts” the earlobe by removing the redundant skin and gives a more youthful appearance. The ears were re-pierced for her in the office at the 3 month visit. She is thrilled to be able to wear her earrings again!

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.