Treatment Provides Lift for Sore Earlobes

Feb. 10, 2007 — -- From ancient times to the present, earrings have been a staple of women's fashions. And ever since then, wearing them for a long period of time has caused problems.

As the operator of her own public relations agency with clients nationwide, Dava Guerin spends hours every day on the telephone. But all that phone time took a toll on her ears.

"It's an attachment to my body. When a client wants you, they want you," she said. "My earlobes hurt sometimes, and it does pull on my earrings."

It's a complaint common among women who spend all day on the phone: sore, stretched earlobes and earrings that don't hang evenly. It's especially true of cell phone users like Guerin.

"You tend to hold it a little bit tighter and closer to your ear," she said.

21st-Century Solution to Ancient Problem

Now there's a solution to the age-old problem. Dr. Allan Wulc, a Philadelphia plastic surgeon, stumbled onto it while using Restylane, a cosmetic filler, to plump up facial wrinkles. He often noticed there was a little filler left in his syringe when he was done with a patient's face.

"I would say -- why don't I put this in your earlobes, and women would go, 'You can do that!?'" he said.

One day, Wulc stopped wondering and injected the earlobes of afflicted patients. Wulc explained that just like other facial features -- lips, cheeks and the brow, earlobes thin out over time. So he injects a tiny amount, less than a third of a cubic centimeter, into the lower portion of the lobe. His patients have been raving about the results.

"They say their diamonds sparkle more, because the light hits them better," Wulc said.

According to Wulc, the effect should last at least a year because the earlobe doesn't move much, unlike the mouth or the forehead. The filler needed to treat the earlobes costs about $350 and can also be used for a few other spots on the face.

Of dozens of patients he's treated in the past six months, he said no one has come back for more. Still, Wulc is surprised how a little experiment ended up solving a common problem for women.

"I couldn't imagine that it would capture the enthusiasm of patients, but it has," he said.