Ugh...gauges!

[Sammy]

DS just came home for his Spring Break and showed me the new gauges he got in his ears. Just gross. He told me he was thinking of getting them and as much as I tried to discourage him, he went ahead anyway (yeah, I know...big surprise ). He says he won't go any bigger (right now the diameter is a little smaller than a pencil eraser), but I hope when he gets tired of them, the holes close completely.

 

[Jennasis]

I'm with you. I think gauges are terribly trashy looking. Unfortunately it's his body to decorate.

 

[sam_gordon]

He's got THESE hanging from his ears?

WOW! Definitely not my thing!

 

[maelstrom]

One thing to remind him of, and he probably knows this already, but for most people who gauge their ears out a decent amount, if he should decide that he no longer wants them, it will probably require plastic surgery to get his earlobes back to normal.

 

[ENSOCK]

I agree just gross! Good luck talking him out of keeping them.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

One fad I don't understand

 

[ohiomom28]

I think they are gross, but that small of a size will shrink back if he takes them out

 

[IDoDis]

Kids and young adults don't understand how what they do now will impact them years later when the fad is gone and they've matured and don't want these stupid looking things in their ears anymore. It may look cool on a 20 year old, but not so much on a 40 year old who is running his own business. But like someone else said, it's his body so he'll have to deal with it when the time comes.

 

[AlwaysMoving]

Back in the 80's, I went to school with a girl who played with and tugged on her earrings so much that it stretched the holes so big a normal sized stud could be pulled through. Years later, when the fad came about, I wondered why someone would want to do that on purpose.

 

[Pigeon]

I have a relative who has gauges you could drive a Volkswagon through. I can't stand to look at them.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I hate them. I think they look so ugly. My niece's boyfriend has them and they are at the size of a quarter now. I really hope he stops.

He quit his last job (he's 21) and has been unable to get hired at another and I really think those things might be part of the problem.

 

[Maryr1]

I wouldn't be so sure they will close up if he removes them after a bit of time. I had to have my ears surgically repaired after years of wearing large earrings. I admit I did sometimes wear them over night, but after a while, the holes were streched and I did not care for how they looked. It was expensive, and yes, a plastic surgeon had to do it. Honestly, I think it cost over a thousand dollars......probably because I was just too lazy to take those darn diamond studs out than DH gave me.......oh well.......

 

[NYEmomma]

I like the look of them and have several friends who have them -- ranging from small to ENORMOUS -- but to each their own. I'd have them myself except DH doesn't like the look of them and I generally try to stick to piercings/tattoos that he's in agreement with.

Every body is different but you can typically go to 0 or 00 gauged ears and still have the holes shrink back to a normal size when you remove them. But you've got to do the proper care when going up in size and when trying to close them up. You can't just shove a taper through your ear, ignore it & think that everything's a-ok. That being said, you may not get back to a size that you can wear standard 18g or 20g earrings but if you do things properly, you should be able to get back to a size that is "normal" looking in most company.

If you go bigger than that, you'll more than likely need corrective surgery to get the ear to look "normal" again but even that's getting more & more common these days.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I wouldn't be so sure they will close up if he removes them after a bit of time. I had to have my ears surgically repaired after years of wearing large earrings. I admit I did sometimes wear them over night, but after a while, the holes were streched and I did not care for how they looked. It was expensive, and yes, a plastic surgeon had to do it. Honestly, I think it cost over a thousand dollars......probably because I was just too lazy to take those darn diamond studs out than DH gave me.......oh well.......

I have wondered if there aw a way to repair an ear. When my babies were small they would pull on my earring in one of my ears so it's a little torn. I can't wear heavy earrings at all. I cant see me paying a grand to fix it though. I guess I should have kept granny's clip ons.

As for the gauges, I hate them too. I would be pretty upset if one of my children came home with them.

 

[bumbershoot]

He's got THESE hanging from his ears?

WOW! Definitely not my thing!

I'm not that into the gauges (or as the guy at Trader Joes told me "earlids"), but having one with a gauge face? Now THAT would be cool. Or fun. Or both. Not sure. But it would be fun to see!

I have wondered if there aw a way to repair an ear. When my babies were small they would pull on my earring in one of my ears so it's a little torn. I can't wear heavy earrings at all. I cant see me paying a grand to fix it though. I guess I should have kept granny's clip ons. .

My earrings went away for the pulling years. For some reason, as a teen dealing with my baby brothers, they were fine with my earrings. I even let the older one take them out and put them in even when he was 2; he was just that careful with them and me. But my burly beast of a baby? Oh no no no.




OP, just be glad he doesn't have a plate in his lip. Just goes to show, beauty standards vary greatly!

 

[JaneBanks]

Eh...there are worse things in life.

 

[Sammy]

He's got THESE hanging from his ears?

WOW! Definitely not my thing!

OMG.....too funny!!

I wouldn't be so sure they will close up if he removes them after a bit of time. I had to have my ears surgically repaired after years of wearing large earrings. I admit I did sometimes wear them over night, but after a while, the holes were streched and I did not care for how they looked. It was expensive, and yes, a plastic surgeon had to do it. Honestly, I think it cost over a thousand dollars......probably because I was just too lazy to take those darn diamond studs out than DH gave me.......oh well.......

I really wonder about the ability of the holes to close normally after being stretched out. I had a friend who regularly wore very heavy earrings and eventually had to have surgery to repair the stretched holes.

Eh...there are worse things in life.

Oh I completely agree. I was merely venting a little. One of the reasons I was disappointed is because he'll be summer intern/job hunting soon and I know a lot of people will judge based on appearance.

It's not as if I'm going to disown him or love him any less. It's just one of those "what were they thinking" moments every parent has.

-Sammy

 

[Arielle22]

The dress code at my company prohibits any ear gauges and also earrings in men.

Personally I can't look at someone with gauges. I don't know why but it makes me uncomfortable.

 

[Bob NC]

DS just came home for his Spring Break and showed me the new gauges he got in his ears.

He told me he was thinking of getting them and as much as I tried to discourage him, he went ahead anyway

If I had a discussion with my son about getting gauges and he got them against my wishes, I'd be finished paying for his school. He would be on permanent spring break.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me, different strokes for different folks.

I am not going to spend a ton of money educating him and making him a marketable person in the workforce while he is doing things voluntarily to his body that make him less marketable.

I know there are exceptions, but, the only people you see around here with these things are in careers such as grocery bagger or skateboard shop clerk.

 

[KimR]

The smaller ones aren't too bad, but I saw a woman one time with HUGE guages. Picture those giant hoop earrings that end just above the shoulders only in a triangular shape. That's what these looked like except her earlobe went around the outside. And honestly, it really wouldn't have been that bad except I couldn't help picturing what her earlobes looked like when she took the earrings (or guages?) off.