SHENTON FAMILY MEDICAL CLINIC (CLEMENTI)
EAR STUD INJURY
*The pictures shown are file photos from secondary sources in Google and featured here for
purpose of educating patients. Not for commercial use. All rights reserved.

I have encountered 2 cases of injury to the ear involving ear studs in
February 2011. This leads me to think that such injuries may be far more
common and under-reported.

In the first case, a small ear stud pinned to the location similar to that  
shown in the picture A, was buried deep in the cartilage tissue after the
victim, a young lady,  was accidentally hit on the ear while in a crowded
bus. As it involved the cartilage, she had to be referred to the hospital
emergency department for further management.

In the second case, a middle-aged lady had her gold ear stud buried
deep in the soft tissue of the ear in a location as shown in picture B. I had
to twist the stud out slowly using a forcep and eventually succeeded in
extruding the embedded piece out. The injury left a large hole through
the entire skin thickness.

Learning Points

There is ongoing fashion to place studs in various position around the
ears. Apart from traditional location involving only skin, many had studs
through the cartilaginous parts of the ear. Such practice is highly
dangerous and I often discourage patients from this due to the potential
of injury and infection that can result in deformed ears.
PICTURE A
PICTURE B