Pages

August 26, 2010

Unplugged!

You’ve seen people with earlobe gauges before, like this nice guy who I met at Chicago's Wrigley Field. Like me, you may have wondered what inspires a person to stick something the size of an artillery shell through their earlobes. Well, it turns out there are a number of VERY GOOD REASONS to get an ear hole like this.

I’m sure I’ll think of one in a second.

Anyway, to make a hole this big in your earlobe requires work! So first you pierce the ear. Then you start stretching that hole by sticking larger and larger “gauges” into the hole to stretch it out. (The term gauge is a size measurement, like a 12 gauge shotgun.) The problem is that once that hole is bigger than six millimeters across, it’s not going to grow back.

And the odds are that some morning, a person with holey ears might look in the mirror and ask, "Why did I do that?" So today, there are a number of doctors who’ll reconstruct the whole earlobe for them! (That's the picture above.) But what if you stretch out an earlobe hole, then get a doctor to repair it, and then you change your mind and start a new ear plug earhole? What would happen?

A plastic surgeon said, “They'd run the risk of literally tearing their earlobe apart. It wouldn't withstand the stretching, and they'd have two little pieces.” Downer!
Second picture and quote from over here.

4 comments:

  1. Herr Gross (which translates surprisingly into Mr. Big... go figure): this article brings up an interesting conundrum. No not for me, its just I wanted to use that word in a sentence. Is the phenomenon you describe true of only earlobes, or could it potentially happen to other body parts (both seen and ... gulp... unseen)? After seeing a very bizarre lower lip piercing today (DUDE!) as well as what I convinced myself was the uncomfortable way he was walking (DOUBLE DUDE!!), I imagine that could have potential reprecussions as well as other icky consequences (let's call them consecussions, since concussions seems to also in my opinion be a prerequisite of this whole thing). Not that he'd necessarily increase the size of his 'holes', but still...

    Well in retrospect, it's still not as gross as the 'fashion' article I saw today about a new trend in young ladies complimenting their freshly laser cleared, um, areas with unique and what must be quite painfully zapped in tattoos... oh dear, I need to go have a good lie down again, I think the hole in my head is getting bigger...

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's true, humans will pierce or plug any portion of their anatomy that they can. I guess in a way, our entire bodies are the equivalent of an earlobe...which explains why I had my pancreas pierced just this morning!

    I think it looks lovely, though I do seem to be having a bit of difficulty producing digestive enzymes. But no matter! I look great, and that's the important thing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do tend to partake in most of the body mutilation that takes place, but I do wonder where it will end, it seems that over time there is more and more body mutilation, such as the dermal punch (eeww), scarring, stretching etc. I was thinking about getting my hand shredded, like if I put it in a paper shredder, or something of that sort, let it heal, will I have a hand that resembles spaghetti? Wouldn't that be cool?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Let me think about that...

    *hours later*

    No!

    ReplyDelete

No bad words, thanks!