More young people who have gauging, a process that deliberately stretches and widens earlobes, are looking to have it reversed and are turning to cosmetic surgery for help. Msnbc.com reports that ear surgery is being requested by individuals who have regrets about having their lobes stretched.
Also known as otoplasty, ear surgery is often requested by those looking for jobs and going on interviews, cosmetic surgeon Dr. Angelo Cuzalina tells the New York Daily News.
“It’s almost becoming a fad,” he says. “People have the gauging procedure where they gradually stretch out their lobe so it has a giant hole that’s larger than a quarter. But then they want to join the workforce and think their chances for a job might be better if they didn’t have this.”
Plastic surgeon Dr. Brian Glatt also reports that he is seeing more young patients who gauged their ears as teenagers but now regret doing it and look to have their ears reconstructed.
Dr. Cuzalina explains the basic steps involved in this type of earlobe surgery: first, surgeons remove small strips of skin from the bottom of the lobe; then the edges of the lobe are stitched back together; and finally skin tissue is used to re-create the shape of a normal ear lobe.
Patients should expect some scarring, but after several months, they should be able to wear regular earrings again, says Dr. Cuzalina. The procedure yields a relatively normal-looking earlobe, he adds.
“It’s not a really painful operation to have done, but you may never get the lobe back to its original shape,” says Dr. Cuzalina. “But more people are doing it. It usually takes some change in a person’s life to force them to come in and get the surgery.”