Earlobes! Most people don’t think about the appearance of their earlobes as they age, but as someone who looks at faces for a living, I notice many signs of aging at the periphery of the face. This tends to be an area of the face that receives a lot of sun exposure over time and is an area that has not received much attention with sunscreen and skin care products over the years.

Are you listening? Your ears can make you look older!

The sides and edge of the face near the hairline tends to have sun/age spots, fine lines, and collagen loss, and this includes the earlobes. When people look in the mirror they are generally looking at the centermost features, and since we don’t notice our own earlobes, they are frequently ignored. However, if someone is looking at you from the side, the ear is right in the center on display, especially noticeable if you are wearing earrings.

Years of wearing heavy earrings cause the earlobes to stretch downward, lengthening the hole of the ear piercing. That, combined with natural volume loss related to aging, causes earlobes to look saggy and wrinkled- a telltale sign of aging! Treating the earlobes along with the face with fillers really enhances an overall youthful appearance.

Dr. Horton can do a minor surgical procedure in the office to repair torn or significantly elongated earlobe piercings. I can complement this treatment by adding volume to the earlobe by injecting a dermal filler such as Juvederm or Restylane into the body of the earlobe so it appears more full and less wrinkly. It is amazing what a difference this makes to the overall youthfulness of the face! This is a great option for patients who have had a facelift in the past and are left with stretched, thin earlobes with a scar directly in front of the ear. My patients who have had filler in the earlobes have been thrilled with the results. It is a fast and easy treatment to perform, well-tolerated by patients, with no downtime (sometimes a small bruise which can be covered with makeup). While this is technically an “off label” procedure (meaning not specifically FDA-approved for this area of the face), treating the earlobes is a very safe procedure when performed by a trained and licensed health care provider who has experience injecting dermal fillers.

In health and happiness,

Courtney McSpadden Prabhakar, FNP

Aesthetic Nurse Practitioner at Horton SPA