[2010-08-26 15:42:48 - helen]: my 25 year old daughter had her ears pierced at age 10; one of the original earrings pulled down (was not attended to properly) and left a scar on her earlobe; she still wears pierced earrings. I feel responsible for not caring for her ears better! Could surgery remove the scar? Thanks!

[2010-08-28 17:17:53 - Dr. Ringpfeil]: If I understand correctly, your daughter has a partially torn earlobe. This can be repaired. The repair will leave a hardly visible, flat scar. The earlobe can be repierced in close proximity to the original site 3-4 weeks after the repair.

[2010-08-15 20:29:43 - cp from Delaware]: Hi Doctor - I took out my earrings over 7 years ago yet you can still see the piercing holes, which I want to go away. I heard that you can have the scar tissue removed, so that the holes will heal further. Do you perform that procedure? Is there scarring? How much does that cost? Thanks!

[2010-08-19 18:22:56 - Dr. Ringpfeil]: A pierced site/hole is a scar and does not usually close by itself even if earrings are not worn for several years. The patent hole can only be removed by cutting it out and reattaching the fresh skin edges. This will leave a small linear scar that is slightly longer than the original pierced site. The cost is the same as for a split lobe repair, $275 per pierced site.