I can wear earrings again!!!!!Update

[ladysovereign]

Originally Posted by lisalan

What do you mean by cheesecutter effect?
You can find nice titanium earrings on ebay if you search under Charlestone.

"Cheescuter effect" was an expression coined by Elayne Angel who wrote "The Piercing Bible". She stressed to her clients that earrings lower than 16 gauge (the thickness of the part that goes through the pierced hole) combined with the weight will drag the earwire down through the skin (like a cheesecutter) causing a large oval shaped hole and will eventually cut the lobe in half if stressed enough.

I've seen lobes on a few older Women I work with that have either been repaired due to the "cheesecutter effect" or look like they could snap in half any second so I'm really cautious of what I wear in my piercings.

I'm also very picky with the Titanium I buy (only implant grade) and I prefer to wear the thicker gauges which can only be found through body piercers/suppliers.

[emi__]

That's really only a big risk if you're wearing heavy, ornate, gaudy jewelry in your lobes (like some women prefer). The weight of small and delicate dangle earrings isn't too bad... but if you can feel it pulling on your ear, watch out.

[ladysovereign]

Originally Posted by emi__

That's really only a big risk if you're wearing heavy, ornate, gaudy jewelry in your lobes (like some women prefer). The weight of small and delicate dangle earrings isn't too bad... but if you can feel it pulling on your ear, watch out.

True, as some earrings that only have an 18 gauge wire can be really heavy and others not so much. I found for myself that even small danglies after a day will start to stretch my first piercings in a bad way, so I don't risk it.