so i got my ears pierced once when i was 6 and again when i was 11 (so now i have two piercings in each ear). i haven't worn earrings in maybe a year or two, but the holes haven't closed up. i know that piercings are puncture wounds that are generally permanent, but has anyone had success with "getting rid of" a decade old set of ear piercings?

I was actually wondering about this, like if a transguy was mostly stealth if people might use the old piercing holes as 'evidence'.  I got my ears pierced when I was 8.  I didn't use the holes for about 5 years, but they were still noticeable.  I recently tried one of them for a cosplay of a male Final Fantasy character to see if I would need a clip-on, but no, the hole is still there and usable.  I can't see how one could do anything to fix them except maybe making bigger holes and hope it scabs over the edges, but it'd probably just make it worse.

Quote from: Jake84 on April 04, 2011, 12:10:09 AM
I was actually wondering about this, like if a transguy was mostly stealth if people might use the old piercing holes as 'evidence'.

Really?  but I have seen a lot of cis gender guys who have both ears pieced. 

Quote from: JohnAlex on April 04, 2011, 12:14:27 AM
Really?  but I have seen a lot of cis gender guys who have both ears pieced.

I haven't, unless they were hipsters or alternative, and almost always younger guys.   Maybe it varies by area (it is pretty conservative where I am), but the only guys I've seen with both ears pieces had gauge's or facial piercings in addition to their ear piercings.

I've seen tons of guys with multiple ear piercings. I used to have a ton of holes in my ears, now I have both conches pierced and both ears gauged. Nobody ever asked me about my closed piercings. Nobody judges you based on that.

I also had my ears pierced, I think it was three times growing up. The options I know of is leave it be, or get the holes stretched. I personally am going with the second one but mostly because of a preference to body modification and not a whole lot to do with the remaining holes in my ears. I don't really think about them much and hardly notice them myself. Perhaps you're over thinking this? If not, maybe try a temporary fix like a little makeup to hide it. I don't really like makeup myself but it's the only possible thing I can think of to hide it. 

I have 16 ga in both ears and no one ever questions it. Lots of skater/punk/goth/indie ect guys have them so I think if you told someone those are gauging holes they would overlook it.

I never see anyone with just a single ear pierced anymore.

You can get the holes closed surgically. Pretty sure thats the only way.

I wouldn't worry about it. I never see single piercings on guys anymore either, and it's not just the alternative people either. In fact, the guys with earrings around me are usually preppy or gangster, and no questions their masculinity.

I got my ears pierced when I was 9 and stopped wearing earings at around 11.  When I was 13, the holes still hadn't closed up so I thought I'd gauge them.  I now have 00g in each of my ears and no one asks questions.

How did your holes not close guys? I got my ears pierced when I was younger but took them out around 11 when I figured out I was allergic to gold jewelry. I'm 19 and the holes closed completely so I got them re-pierced. I barely see people with one piercing anymore. I have earrings that look like gauges so nobody says anything.

Odd, I was just wondering about this topic the other day. I haven't worn earrings since I was really young, and they've closed up now. If you get really close you can see an indent of where there used to be a hole, but I can't put anything through them anymore.

I mean does it really matter.  I doubt people even care and if they notice them it won't automatically make them think "HOLY ->-bleeped-<- THAT'S A CHICK!" cause I've seen plenty of dudes with ear piercing holes but no jewelry.  At most they will think you are a dude who made some choices when you were younger that just aren't for you anymore. 

Mine refuse to fully heal..what I might do is get them re-pierced then get the fake caps, so they look like they're slightly stretched but not actually, then if I ever take them out I might be able to try a different strategy to make sure they heal properly.

jewelry that makes you look like you have stretched ears but don't really usually looks ridiculous and awful. 

My don't seem to ever close.  I got them pierced when I was 3 (it was a tradition in my family for us all to get our ears pierced on our 3rd birthday) and my mother kept earrings in them constantly until I was like 10 when I took them out.  Then I didn't wear anything in them until like college and they went through just fine.  There was just a very thin layer of skin that grew over the top of the hole that popped through easily and painlessly.  My eyebrow, otoh, would close up almost instantly.  I had to take it out every day for like 4-8 hours for my summer job and every night I had to fight it through and eventually a sore opened up that just wouldn't heal with the constant reopening of it and I had to just let it close up, which sucks.

Quote from: Kohdy on April 04, 2011, 01:46:26 PM
Odd, I was just wondering about this topic the other day.


Odd, so was I!!

My mom had my ears pierced when I was 5.  I didn't want earrings, but she really wanted me to have pierced ears for my kindergarten school pictures.  I guess 5-year-olds don't get any say about their own bodies >.>

I haven worn earrings in over a decade, but the holes are still there.  They still get infected sometimes and the last time I tried, I couldn't get an earring through, but yeah--the holes are still visible.  I don't think they ever really go away.

I was at work one day and no one there knew my history, so they just took me at face value as a guy.  One day, one of my older co-workers noticed my earring holes.  Know what he said?  "Whoa, you're a little rocker.  You know, you can wear earrings to work, no one here will care."  They didn't assume I grew up as a girl.  They just thought I had a 'wild side'.  Some of the younger guys who worked there had visible piercings (ears, eyebrows, snakebites, etc.).  I don't think it's unusual any more for guys to have both ears pierced, especially if they are younger.

I know a lot of men would pierced ears. Look at celebrities for example.

Heck, even my grandpa has his ears pierced. It's a cultural things maybe? You see a lot of latin men with pierced ears.

I had my ears pierced as a toddler, but I've never been fond of jewerly. I brought myself some diamond studs though.

Some piercing holes close within time, while others don't. 

I have pierced ears (lobes & conch) and a scar from a formerly pierced septum. I know [bio]guys in their 30s and 40s who have/had one or both ears pierced. Most people who aren't looking don't notice anymore. The only way I know of to close them isn't necessarily safe or comfortable. The only way my holes stayed open was because I stretched them incorrectly and split the insides of my fistulas. I suspect if you put in jewelry that was too large, you could convince the holes to close up because of the trauma. I'm not saying it's a great idea or that you should/would want to try it. If they're small holes I wouldn't bother with them. Mine are back down to 18 ga from 8, and a friend's are almost unnoticeable from when he took his out 2 years ago.