Chandelier earrings are one of this season’s fashion must-haves however for many women, these heavy earrings can cause severe damage to their ear lobes with cosmetic surgeons reporting that many women are seeking plastic surgery to fix their damaged ears.

The two main forms of cosmetic surgery that patients seek is to reduce the size of the earlobe where the earrings have stretched the earlobe thanks to their weight, or surgery to repair split earlobes. It is common for cosmetic surgeons to have to work on both ears on a patient, although many patients will often find that one earlobe is worse than the other. This may be due to influences such as phones which will exacerbate the weight of the earring and pull the earlobe further when the patient uses a handset.

Earlobe damage can be incredibly unsightly if someone wears heavy earrings on a regular basis, they risk not only the earlobe itself stretching, but also the piercing hole being extended into a long slit a slit which may not be covered by ordinary stud earrings.

The amount of damage done will vary depending on how heavy the earrings are, how often they are worn, how soft the ear tissue is, and whether the patient fiddles with their earrings on a regular basis.

To repair the ears, cosmetic surgeons tend to apply a local anaesthetic to the ear. Several incisions are then made on both sides of the split to form a raw edge. These edges are then sewn back together with stitches these are often non-dissolvable therefore the patient will have to return to their plastic surgeon a week or so later to have the stitches removed. After 2-3 months, the ears can be repierced and it is advised that patients stick to wearing stud earrings or very light dangly earrings in the future.