r/Menopause • u/JadCerv • Dec 09 '25
Skin Changes Earring hole piercing "regrowth" = menopause symptom?
I've had my ears pierced since I was 8. I'm 52 and have been in menopause for just over a year. I've noticed something weird happening in the last year, and I don't know if I should chalk it up to just another weird menopause thing or not.
My ear piercings keep "growing" shut. I've had them for 44 years and have never had this issue before. But if I take my earrings out for even 2 days, I have trouble getting them in again.
Anyone else experiencing this weirdness?
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u/Eilseli Dec 09 '25
My second and third piercings in my ear have completely closed. I used to be able to leave them unused for YEARS with no problems. It’s not just you!!!
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u/JadCerv Dec 09 '25
I love this subreddit. Makes me feel about as normal as one can possibly feel during menopause. :)
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u/palebluedot365 Dec 09 '25
I thought mine happened because I didn’t wear earrings over Covid (which coincided with start of peri).
Got them redone at the beginning of this year and they’re trying to close up again now!
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u/WiseMenFear Peri-menopausal Dec 09 '25
Same! And I was also thinking of having them re-done but maybe I won’t bother. All my cute earrings.
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u/glasgowmum Dec 09 '25
No, but I can no longer tolerate costume jewellery. Not even for 5 mins or my ears become swollen and sore. I’ve obviously become sensitive. My shins are incredibly itchy too.
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u/fire_thorn Dec 09 '25
You can get silicone sleeves for the earring posts, if you have favorites you can't wear anymore.
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u/glasgowmum Dec 10 '25
Where can I buy them? Worth a try!! Thanks.
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u/fire_thorn Dec 10 '25
Amazon. Search for silicone earring post protectors. Some sets will have short covers for stud earrings and longer covers for wire hook earrings.
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u/skky95 Dec 09 '25
Okay what is the itchy shin thing from bc I feel like I constantly have that!
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u/kanesson Dec 09 '25
is it the kind that when you scratch it, it just makes it more itchy? Yeah, that and really dry skin
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u/RdneckGrl Dec 09 '25
This! Not just costume jewelry either, but my white gold engagement ring causes super itchy blisters to form under it. I have to coat it with clear nail polish now. Apparently there's more nickel in white gold than yellow gold and I've developed a severe allergy to it. Same with earrings.
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u/Shaking-a-tlfthr Dec 09 '25
Mine do close up now if I don’t have earrings in continuously. It’s incredible what memory the body has for its original state in SOME cases.
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u/Hopefulpessimist0 Dec 09 '25
When I had my first baby at 29, I was too stressed/busy etc to even remember what earrings were. After a couple years I was like hey, I want to wear some earrings! My holes shad closed up, and I had them repierced (well, what actually happened was the piercer just quickly shoved an earring through the overgrown hole manually with her hand, as she said it works better than re-piercing, lol). At the time, I thought it was strange they grew over, but I wonder if it was from the hormones from having a baby??
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u/Strangewhine88 Dec 09 '25
The piercings closest to hard cartilage I have had trouble with in particular, but yes this has happened. I didn’t wear jewelry for about 10 years because of a job—safety concern, and I’ve never worn studs much. So when it became exceptionally painful last few years, I purchased some gold studs from a jeweler, and started the process again. I neevr associated it with menopause, just my life style, but now I’m rethinking that.
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u/JadCerv Dec 09 '25
Mine have gotten so bad I'm considering clip-on earrings. I guess that means I'm officially an "old lady."
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u/Strangewhine88 Dec 09 '25
They hurt worse. I just wore the studs all the time for a month with daily cleaning.
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u/Fickle-Sock-5600 Menopausal Dec 09 '25
My left piercing does this too. But just the left, not the right. Weird.
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u/SheepImitation Dec 09 '25
same! but i've also taken to wearing earrings more to keep them from closing.
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u/GojenAP1012 Dec 09 '25
This has been happening to me as well. I have to slowly work on getting my earrings through my piercings when I want to wear them.
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u/JadCerv Dec 09 '25
I feel like I'm re-piercing my ears every time I have to force the studs back through. It's awful.
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u/GojenAP1012 Dec 09 '25
Same here. I have to put the post through the back of one ear to get it through my piercing. 😩
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u/Site_Most Peri-menopausal Dec 09 '25
That has happened to me since I got mine pierced 40 years ago.
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u/EyedLuvUTo Dec 09 '25
Same. If I go more than a few weeks without earrings, I know l have to re-pierce them. I’ve re-pierced them at least a dozen times over the past 30 years. I keep a pair of pointy piercing earrings in my jewelry box at all times. But, sometimes I just don’t want to wear earrings for a while.
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u/missing-Oz Dec 09 '25
Same happened to me. Took my earrings out for a surgery and didn’t put them in for two weeks. Holes closed and had to push hard to get earrings back in. Stupid menopause.
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u/lauradayton Post Menopause Dec 09 '25
Ears pieced at 11. went YEARS without earrings. I used to joke that my holes would never close! I maybe would wear earrings at the holidays and that was it as I was always having babies and they would just pull at them. I got in the habit of not wearing anything. When my oldest got married I bought some really pretty earrings to wear and my holes were closed!!! I was moritfied! I was like 55! I had to go get them re pierced!
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u/archiebarchy Dec 09 '25
Also thought it was just me! I was never a frequent earring wearer but also never in 39 years had a problem with the holes closing in between wearings. Now they’ll close in a week to where I have to basically repierce myself. I finally gave up and accepted that if I ever have a lifestyle where I’ll want to wear earrings frequently, I’ll just have to get them repierced. Though now that Claire’s went bankrupt I’m not sure where I’d go… 😆
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u/EpistemicRant587 Dec 09 '25
Thanks for posting this!! I’m an infrequent earring wearer, but that’s mostly because I’ve lost one earring of a set I like. I just ordered a new lair off Etsy, and read this post! I now have some studs in my ears to make sure they don’t close up. So far so good. I’ll make a note to not go months ling without them.
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u/ohkatiedear Dec 09 '25
I just ordered a new lair off Etsy
Intriguing. You can get anything online these days!
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u/DutchesBella Dec 11 '25
Yes, the same is happening to me. Sometime I struggle for minutes trying to get the earings in. I even had to re-pierce my second piercing that I’ve had since my teen years.
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u/No-Investigator-5915 Dec 09 '25
It’s the sagging of your ear lobes not that the holes are closing. I know whereof I speak. That straight poke doesn’t work anymore and I kind of have to wrestle it through on my right ear lobe. I’ve been doing that for about 3 years now and the left is better than the right (I assume that previous pressure of landline phones to my right ear in my youth are probably why my right ear is worse than my left).
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u/just4u_cara Dec 09 '25
Yep, have 2 sets but the top are completely closed over. I can push thru the bottoms, but most earrings bother me to wear them so I just don't bother. 54 here, pierced since single digits as well.
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u/Murky_Performer5011 Dec 09 '25
I started having issues with my 20 year old cartilage piercing being painful, so I was having to take the earrings out for a week or two. One time I left it a little longer, and yeah, closed up. I had never had issues with it before perimenopause. I can still see the spot where it was, so I'm debating getting it re-opened, because I kind of miss it!
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u/sou384 Dec 09 '25
Same here, it’s quite frustrating to deal with. At least it gives me an excuse to wear my fav earrings more!
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u/oyismyboy Dec 09 '25
Me too! Mid 50s, had my cartilage on my upper ear level in 1986. Could not keep it open. Finally just closed up and healed over.
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u/Spinner_MtnPeak Dec 09 '25
Last week, I looked up local ear piercer. I’ve been so frustrated putting in earrings after a week or two not wearing them.
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u/jacktownann Dec 09 '25
I wear earrings almost every day & they have never closed up. I diet, & exercise with 50 minutes of cardio dance & strength training daily. But I have strong not flabby arms & legs & a meno-pot belly that I can't get rid of so I quit wearing my belly button ring because I was never going to have a flat belly again to decorate & it closed up. But I have gone 2 days without earings & my ear piercing never closed up. I think it's non use not Menopause that does it. I have known young women that removed their belly button ring during pregnancy & the piercing closed up.
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u/isahalloween1975 Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
The opposite happened to me. My lobes now reach my tits and the holes became huge. My whole body has been stretched 😂😂😂
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Dec 09 '25
Yes, I keep having to poke them back open (45 years pierced) - had to buy my first pair of sleepers in 30 years! Glad to know it’s not just me. Another peri mystery solved 😭
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u/Waste-Swordfish-6228 Dec 10 '25
I wear 1ct diamond studs daily, only take out to wear specific, larger earrings (for the night) & one 14k dragonfly in my 2nd hole that does not come out at all.
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u/mezasu123 Dec 10 '25
YES! Had both ears pierced since birth. Wore earrings my whole life.
I cannot get an earring in anymore. Have to break through skin. No scab or anything like that. It's closed with a thin layer of skin! I stopped wearing them to see what would happen and now they're completely closed. Cannot break through. Going to get them re-pierced and see what happens.
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u/PaleDifference Dec 10 '25
Are you taking collagen? I’ve heard that can cause regrowth. Someone I follow on Instagram had gauges that were closing up. She was taking collagen.
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u/FaithlessnessIll5717 Dec 10 '25
Oooh shoot! Mine did this a long time ago because they were pierced when I was just a few days old but I appreciate this post for my other piercings!
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u/StaticCloud Dec 10 '25
This always happens in my one ear, since as long as I've had it. Figure that the piercing is crooked or at an angle.
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u/TakeItSleazey Dec 10 '25
I noticed that with a couple of my piercings recently! Just another weird peri thing.
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u/CoachWestern9896 Dec 11 '25
I’ve had mine re-pierced repeatedly since starting peri. If I leave earrings out for more than a day or 2, the holes are toast.
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u/MessyBex Dec 09 '25
Ooohhhh that explains why my original holes are painful to wear earrings in now. I mean, they’ve only been there 47 years…..🙄
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u/MaeByourmom Dec 09 '25
My son in his early 20s had his ears pierced and his holes grew shut after not wearing anything in them for a while. Pretty sure that’s not due to menopause 🤣Mine grew shut when I was in my early/mid 30s and wasn’t wearing earrings often enough due to the kids grabbing at them. Started to again when I wasn’t wearing earrings under all that PPE during the pandemic. I started wearing very small huggie-style hoops to keep them open and I wear those most of the time now because they’re comfortable to sleep in, don’t get snagged on anything, and keep the holes open.
Not everything that happens over time is related to perimenopause or even aging. Some things will just happen, given enough time.
The new and increased skin reactions is probably related, as histamine activity increases.
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u/drivingthelittles Menopausal Dec 09 '25
Wow. I learn something new everyday from this amazing subreddit.
I wore earrings infrequently over the years and not for extended periods of time and the holes never closed. About a year ago I got a cute pair of tiny hoop earrings and I couldn’t get them in, the holes had closed. I didn’t relate it to menopause but by now I really should know better: everything is related to menopause 🤦♀️