I got my ears pierced 5 weeks ago and had to have the earrings removed by my doctor three days ago because they both had minor infections because the earrings were too short for my thick earlobes. I am looking forward to re-piercing my ears, but I don't know how soon. The infection, according to my doctor, should be completely healed up in no longer than one week. I am going to re-pierce my ears at a place that has longer earrings so I will no get infected again. How long should I wait? Thank you so much.

If you do plan to re-pierce your ears, go to a professional piercing studio and have it done with a needle. It is actually less painful, causes less tissue damage, and they will fit your ear with jewellery that is long enough and thick enough to stay put and not cause infection. I would suggest you wait 12-18 weeks to allow your ears to heal fully again before you re-pierce them.

First of all, whoever pierced your ears with studs that were too short needs to be reported to the health department. This could have caused major damage to your ears, even more than what it already caused. It could happen to someone else. When you get your ears pierced, the posts are longer than normal for a reason -- to allow room for swelling. Since your ears probably did not have room to swell, your ears actually swelled around the earrings. I'm glad you got them removed and will be okay.

Even though the infection will be healed up in about a week, you need to make sure the piercings themselves are healed up fully before you get them re-done. Without jewelry in them, lobes can heal in 2 months, sometimes sooner depending on the person -- however, to ensure they are fully healed, wait about 3 months before getting them re-pierced. You definitely do not want to add new problems onto existing problems.

Just a quick FYI -- if you develop significant scarring on the lobes, you may not want to get them re-pierced. Piercing them again with scarring present can make the scarring grow larger, which I'm sure you do not want on your ears. If the scarring is big enough, it will be hard to find someone that will re-pierce them in the first place.

As charlotte said, go to a professional piercer. The results are far better than what you would get after being pierced with a piercing gun. Piercing guns can cause minor to moderate damage to your ears, and they aren't worth the hassle to save a few bucks.

Good luck! :)

I have had the same problem, I'm not sure how long to wait to re pierce my ear, as I had to let it close due to infection caused by at-home piercing. It has been about 6 weeks and the mark is still visible, and I can feel the solid spot of hardened skin too. I'm not sure if it's necessary to have the hardened skin go away before repiercing it.

I have the same problem as my ears closed up just before christmas when I got them pierced last juy. I was upset and are having them done again this year which will be OK as thye have properly healed and I can no longer spot a visible mark. I would wait 3-4 months before re-piercing or just ask claire's when they think yo should have it done agai =D