Ear piercing question

[ysobel]

So I got my ears pierced some months back, and am slowly amassing an earring collection. But there is a slight ... dilemma.

For mobility reasons I can't put in or take them out. My roommate is decent, but my aides, not so much. Especially one aide in particular that manages to leave my ears sore and mangled without actually succeeding in getting stuff out. That's one problem.

Problem the second is that I can't leave earrings out of my ears at night, because I seem to close up fast (?!??).

So I end up wearing the same pair (the posts I got at piercing, generally) and my ears don't get a break and I don't wear the dangly ones as much as I want to because I can't wear them to bed, and in the morning I'm never awake enough to think of swapping to something else.

Is there any sort of placeholder I can use at nighttime that will keep the piercing open but not be pokey or anything, that doesn't involve a small backing piece that is impossible to take off so my aides can remove it easily, and that wouldn't cause problems for my ears?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Stumbled my way here through someones Network, hope you don't mind!

When I was a little girl, I had earrings that were basically a hoop with a hinge. It was one piece of metal that locked together. I think it was the same basic size all around, because they were really easy to spin (all the better to keep my ears from growing over the earring, which was a problem for me too at first).

There were no fiddly ends, because it was all in one piece. Hooking them together would be the main challenge

These might be them? Apparently called sleepers. How convenient.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/silver-hinged-sleepers

[vass]

Seconding sleeper rings as the best for your situation.

Re the closing up fast thing, that's pretty common generally, and is nearly universal if your piercings aren't fully healed yet.

Did you get your ears done by a professional piercer with a needle, or a pharmacist/hairdresser/etc with a piercing gun? If the latter, those posts they used are probably too short for your ears, if they're the sort where you press the backing piece on until it clicks into place. So they'll be uncomfortable and promote swelling (which will make them fit worse.) (Also, they used the posts to make the hole in your ear, and those things are not very sharp.)

Unfortunately, the alternative that professional piercers use, while way better for your ears, is even more fiddly to get on and off. It'd be a longer, thicker gauge barbell style earring with a little screw-on ball. Easy to take off, also easy to drop and lose the little ball. Incredibly easy. /o\ Which is fine if you just want to leave the same earrings in all the time, but not if you want to wear different earrings every day.

Sleeper rings, while more fragile than barbells, and a thinner gauge (I moved from sleepers to horseshoe-shaped barbells because I stim by playing with my earrings, and I kept breaking the hinge) are likely to be way, way more comfortable than posts, and are reasonably easy to get in and out.

[ysobel]

Don't mind at all, and thank you! That's super helpful. ♥

[ysobel]

It was professional piercer with needle, but the starter earrings they gave me were the sort that click into place. Shrug.

Sleeper rings look awesome though. \o/

[synecdochic]

Long term: I've had my ears pieced for ages but lose earrings like a mofo, so I put in locking body jewelry. I'm wondering if you could find some locking body jewelry hoops that would let you have your aides adorn them with the pair you want to wear that day, while keeping the small body jewelry hoops or barbells or whatever in place so they don't have to keep putting things in and taking them out? Hmm.

[jpallan]

I would get body piercing jewelry and wear that, in your situation.

[princessofgeeks]

I love Syn's idea. And I was going to suggest the sleeper rings, but I see others already did. Good luck!

[kaberett]

I'd consider the tiniest-gauge silicon-stretcher-things going, that have a small rim either side but just pop into place, maybe? BUT ALSO I have no piercings, so.

[asciident]

I nth the locking body jewelry. All 4 of my earlobe piercings closed because I kept losing earrings (and had trouble with metal sensitivities/allergies), but I've had the same hoops in my cartilage piercings for more than a decade (one for almost 17 years, the other almost 16). They can be changed out, but they aren't pokey, no backing piece, and mine are surgical grade stainless steel so they are good for fresh piercings.

[tielan]

I umpteen the sleeper rings for earrings. I hated the posts they gave me, and twenty years later, my holes still start closing if I leave it for more than a week.

I also needed gold-plated ones. The 'hypo-allergenic' nickel ones they had left my ears feeling raw.

But I agree with Syn's idea of something you leave in and which has the changeable decorations.

[ephemera]

My ears were never *really* happy with anything as narrow as sleeper rings (or standard posts) - I have titanium body piercing rings that live in my ears, and then slide dangly daily pretty earrings through the holes alongside them in the day - you can also just clip dangly daily pretty earrings *to* the piercing rings - things with kidney wires or french hooks work well that way. (Having your holes heal back over pretty quick is a totally normal thing for new piercings - and depending on your body's healing style may or may not change.)