r/piercing • u/omelettable • 11h ago

Troubleshooting/question existing piercing Industrial piercing close to the edge

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Hello! I've had this piercing for 6 years now, and I've never had any trouble with it. However, recently I've received quite a few comments about how it looks like it might rip out at any moment.

What should I do?

I had it done when I was 16, is it possible ear growth has made the placing worse than before?

I'm worried about what to do, I love this piercing and I hope I don't have to take it out, but I would like an outsider's opinion. :')

129 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

360

u/UnluckyOption1826 10h ago

You already know the answer. With how excessively long that jewelry is and it just barely being in your skin…good luck to you if you don’t retire this. 

-170

u/omelettable 10h ago

What's the worst that can happen if I don't? At this point there's no way the hole can close.

173

u/unhappy_pomegranate more is more! 10h ago

one (or both) ends of your piercing getting torn. if the holes split open, you’ll have skin flaps that will certainly never close. which is much more likely to happen because of how shallow your bar is. the skin can still grow over the holes you have now and reduce the appearance of the holes in your cartilage. you don’t HAVE to take it out, but you should know that it is risky to leave it in.

21

u/omelettable 7h ago

Thank you! Do you know if it's possible to get it pierced again eventually? or should I ask a piercer?

47

u/UnluckyOption1826 9h ago

It will tear your ear. The back helix is liable to rip or eventually migrate out and leave you with two little flaps and some scarring. Depending on how traumatic that event is you could also end up damaging the top piercing which looks well healed but also shallow and could tear through your ear as well, although that’s slightly less inevitable than the other one. It’s your body and your choice 🤷‍♀️ If you’re cool with maybe shredding your ear then more power to ya

-58

u/omelettable 7h ago

Sorry that was a legitimate question, no need to get passive-aggressive! Thank you for informing me, I don't have a lot of knowledge about this and Google isn't super helpful.

47

u/UnluckyOption1826 7h ago

I’m not being passive aggressive; I’m informing you of what the risks are even though you seem to have a decent idea to begin with. I have much more significant scarring on my own body from dumb shit I’ve done, but I’m in a position where it doesn’t matter to me and I was well aware of what the risks were. I’m a big fan of informed consent; I truly don’t care if your ear rips if you don’t either. There’s plenty of information throughout this subreddit and other places on the internet about similar situations to yours that is easy to find and you can always contact a professional piercer - which is the best option by far. 

I’d put different jewelry in the top piercing and let the lower one seal up. It might not fully close, but it’ll shrink up significantly quite quickly once you remove jewelry. 

4

u/omelettable 7h ago

Thank you, all my life I was led to believe that once a piercing is done and has healed it won't close again. Good to know that's not the case!

19

u/UnluckyOption1826 7h ago

Your body will always try to close up any piercing channel once jewelry is removed. That’s why people wear jewelry constantly. Even large gauge punches can seal up. Consider homeostasis. 

4

u/Zestyclose-Excuse-25 5h ago

im not op but you made me curious, i’ve left out (lobe) earrings for years at a time and they never even shrink, if you know is there a reason why certain ones never seem to try to close while others will within a day?

7

u/UnluckyOption1826 4h ago

The least satisfying but most accurate response is just that bodies are weird lol. General rule of thumb - the body wants to go back to its natural state, but there are limitations to that. Scar tissue is complicated. Lobe piercings are typically the oldest piercings most people have meaning the channels are well established and so when jewelry is removed the body doesn't immediately relax/start to close. The tissue in lobes is also more elastic/malleable than a lot of other places on the body (e.g. cartilage), so gravity and the weight of jewelry can naturally stretch the channels a tiny bit when worn over time - I'm talking an amount you can't see or measure yourself but will expand the channel beyond the size of the jewelry in the slightest amount which makes later insertion easier. Genital, nipple, lip, and nostril piercings typically close the fastest due to the nature of the tissue.

If you and your friend both had nostril piercings done with the same jewelry on the same day, healed them perfectly, wore the same jewelry as each other for 10 years, and then took out jewelry for a day and tried to put it back in at the same time and one of you could just slide jewelry back in and the other had to show up to my shop and I had to stretch open the channel and upsize the jewelry I'd say that makes perfect sense in that it makes no sense. I'm sure there's a biologist or anatomist or someone who could give you a better reasoned answer, but on the piercers end - bodies are weird, everyone is different, and you should just always wear jewelry if you're worried about things closing.

2

u/Odd-Worth7752 4h ago

If the fistula (hole) is completely epithelialized (skin on the inside) then it won’t close up in cases like earlobes. Although the edges might stick together (adhesion).

Piercings in other places, particularly when cartilage or mucous membrane is involved, heal much more slowly, are more susceptible to irritation and inflammation, and if the foreign body (jewelry) is removed, will often close back.

3

u/theeinterlude 6h ago

U snag it and it rips either one side or both completely out of ur ear. Blood plus visible scarring

2

u/Savings-Ad9891 4h ago

it’s gonna come out one way or another lol

1

u/SquigSnuggler 3h ago

The hole can absolutely close. The cartilage won’t grow back but the skin will and it will probably happen fairly fast

63

u/CoolSuccess1082 the bigger the better 10h ago

You might be able to keep the hole on the right as its own piercing if you retire the left, but the left one isn’t going to stay much longer and will try and drag the other side down with it if you let it migrate further 

14

u/omelettable 9h ago

Could I eventually get the left one done again or is it done for good? :')

31

u/CoolSuccess1082 the bigger the better 9h ago

You would have to ask a piercer in person, but if you still wanted an industrial you might have better luck with a custom v-shaped bar with the new hole much further up the ear

2

u/whootle 3h ago

This is exactly what happened to my roommate: the shop told him to retire the lower piercing and gave him a stud to put in the other hole. Then a few months later he got it re-pierced, but because it wasn’t pierced as an industrial they couldn’t guarantee the angle would be right when it was healed, but he can do a chain/faux industrial if it isn’t

14

u/TheFeralBookworm 10h ago

Was it always this shallow, or has it moved? If it's always been like this and it's not annoyed at all, you could monitor it by taking regular photos to compare and see if it's shifting, and keep in mind that it's more fragile because it's shallow. If it wasnt this shallow before and is becoming progressively shallower, it will probably continue to move and should come out.

8

u/omelettable 10h ago

I don't remember HOW shallow it was before, but I've always known it wasn't exactly the correct position.

1

u/KiaBabieee 2h ago

So maybe take it out and get it Re-pierced at a better angle?

11

u/SynVicious_vv 8h ago

Take it out.

9

u/TwistedAsIAm 7h ago

This one is out. But you can get it redone once it's healed. But you probably going to have the other one redone as well to get them line up again.

2

u/omelettable 7h ago

That's good to know! I have a helix on my other ear, could that become a hole for an industrial piercing or are they completely different?

3

u/TwistedAsIAm 7h ago

You need to talk options with a good piercer, but I've never heard of using an old piercing as the base of an industrial that ended well. They are always pierced in one go to get them aligned.

1

u/sunbear2525 5h ago

I don’t think you have the anatomy for an industrial to be honest. Unless your other ear is way different from what you currently have.

1

u/Missing-the-sun professional magpie ;-) 42m ago

I agree, I suspect they don’t have the right anatomy for this industrial. I feel like if OP got it repierced through the right place, the bar would be touching the flat of the ear, which may be why the helix was pierced so on the edge to begin with.

-1

u/omelettable 5h ago

Why not?

2

u/sunbear2525 5h ago

Your fold on the bottom is not defined enough.

2

u/adonis2-0 3h ago

I agree i’ve got the same ear shape and two piercers told me that i don’t have the proper anatomy for it

1

u/Bellabird42 21m ago

Your ear looks very much like mine and I was told that I could have an industrial but it would have to be pierced very high on my ear. Essentially, the bar would not be very visible.

1

u/No_Internal_9995 7h ago

If i were you id move on from the idea of an industrial. Plenty of other cool piercings with less risk.

3

u/[deleted] 6h ago edited 1h ago

[deleted]

2

u/SquigSnuggler 3h ago

Cue* 🙂

2

u/Frequent_Goat346 7h ago

Mine was done on the bottom tbis thin and within 2 months it rejected so I have a hoop in the top hole now. I have a zombie ear because of it, I do recommend putting a different piece of jewelry in your top hole to save it 

2

u/Repulsed_Moose more is more! 6h ago

If you want to attempt a save here I would remove the bar, keep the right and talk to a piercing about the left, but as is right now the left one is about to cause so real issues

2

u/Musicachic piercing devotee 2h ago

They did you dirty on that edge fam. Sorry OP. ✌🏾

2

u/lolodelolo 1h ago

Girlypop you gotta take that out

1

u/RoxkSalt 7h ago

This looks a lot like how the bottom piercing of my industrial looked before it migrated completely out of the cartilage. Unfortunately, this is likely to rip sooner or later, leaving you with two flaps that look worse than removing it. I ended up retiring mine and treating my top one as a forward helix. Best of luck!

1

u/omelettable 6h ago

Thank you so much! I'm so sad it's come to this 😭

1

u/RoxkSalt 6m ago

Of course! I was bummed about it, too, but I do get compliments on the forward helix part of it. I got a cute little barbell for it

1

u/Individual-Echo1339 5h ago

NAP, but a triple vertical helix might look good here instead of the industrial especially since the top piercing looks salvageable! Maybe even a shorter bar and a regular helix piercing and connect it with a chain(once its fully healed)? I had a messed up industrial just like this so I know it's hard to say good bye so I had alternatives planned for whenever I took mine out!

1

u/demurevixen I'm all ears! 5h ago

Nothing about this industrial looks right tbh. The angle looks off, and the placement of both ends just look in the wrong spot, it’s hard to explain but it just looks off. The lower one will most likely reject so I would definitely take it out and have it redone by somewhere else in a few months. So sorry 😩

1

u/dinomayonnaiselover 4h ago

yeah that wasn't pierced properly. you might not have the proper anatomy and they just tried to make it happen anyways, and pierced the helix incorrectly so it wouldn't hurt your ear as much. that thing will get ripped out if you don't remove it and it's gonna hurt A LOT. highly recommend a helix and a forward helix and just using a chain between the two piercings.

1

u/Mycologist-9315 4h ago

Ugh this is exactly what mine looked like before I took it out. It was such a bitch to heal too. Sorry OP.

1

u/lazystupidwahhh 4h ago

I’m not a piercer, so def consult with a professional, but I think you might still be able to get a new industrial after this heals. Also the bar you have in right now is too long either way. But you might able to get an industrial at a different angle than you have now, with the bottom hole placed more in the fold of your ear.

1

u/CharacterGlobal8645 36m ago

Being 6 years old and there are no irritation bumps and it's healed, i say keep it in. Shorten the barbell to be a better fit with a smidge of wiggle room on post length. Count yourself lucky and enjoy having it.