For whatever reason, I have always found earlobes interesting. When I was in elementary school I had a friend who was born without one ear. Through the years she endured several surgeries to craft an earlobe for her. The doctor harvested skin from her thigh, and fashioned a lobe out of it. Rhonda was very proud of her new earlobe. I have always noticed whether a person has detached or attached earlobes. That trait is, of course, genetic, and hanging earlobes are dominant, while attached are recessive. We all have hanging earlobes in my family. Interestingly, the frequency of attached earlobes among the Japanese and Chinese populations is over 60%.
I begged to have my ears pierced when I was a girl, and my father finally said that I could for my 10th birthday! I was so excited! My mother took me to Claire's Boutique in the mall (the mall was brand-new at that time) and she signed the consent form. I picked out gold studs, which were all I remember being offered back then. I sat in a high chair and the lady drew dots on my earlobes with a Flair marker. When she was satisfied that they were even, she put the piercing gun up to my right lobe and fired it. PING! The noise was really loud in my ear, and it hurt like crazy! I could not believe how much it hurt. She quickly moved on to the other ear, and PING! shot the stud into the left one. I didn't cry, although I wanted to, and I can still recall how my earlobes were screaming as we walked back through the mall. They were throbbing! I felt like I had two large red neon arrows above my head, pointing at my ears. I didn't admit that it hurt, though, because my father always said that I would be sorry for getting them pierced, and I didn't want him to be right.
I put alcohol on my sore, newly pierced ears, just like I was supposed to. I also turned the earrings every day. Unfortunately, one became infected, anyway. It was awful. I had to finally take the stud out to let the ear heal. Pus oozed out of the hole. Gross! My dad had to get the earring undone, because those suckers had notches on them that basically locked them, and they were next to impossible to remove. My piercing eventually healed, and I was determined that all my suffering would not be in vain. I shoved that stud back through the hole, punching right through the new skin that had formed over it. I never had any trouble after that, and I foolishly got my ears pierced a second time when I was 17. I went back to Claire's but I was old enough to sign the consent form myself that time. I sat in the high chair again, and the lady shot a stud in my ear. I was shocked to find that it hurt just as much as I remembered! Maybe even more! I fanned my earlobe while seriously contemplating whether or not to have the second ear pierced. I finally agreed, and again, I walked through the mall with my ears on fire. I was done with ear piercing after that, however, even when three, four and more piercings became all the rage in the 1980's. No more self-mutilation for me.
These days I am morbidly fascinated with "ear gauges" or earlobe stretching. I amost can't look at young sales clerks if they have big holes in their earlobes (like the guy at Journey's). It totally grosses me out! I realize that King Tut had stretched earlobes, but I see no reason for anyone to do that now. And, what I find most interesting is that plastic surgery is required to repair it, to close the hole. I wonder about these young people putting enormous plugs in their earlobes. Somehow, I just can't see them in a business office, or teaching school, or being civic leaders. Perhaps I am mistaken, and one day soon big holes in the earlobes will be as popular as tattoos are. I didn't see that one coming, either! Print this post
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