A black-and-white photo of a person mid-air in a Superman-style body suspension pose, supported by multiple hooks in their back and legs, smiling joyfully toward the camera. They are suspended horizontally in a large indoor space with high ceilings and visible rigging. A group of onlookers—some seated, some standing—watch with expressions of admiration, amusement, and support. The atmosphere is lively and communal, capturing a moment of shared experience and transformation.

Torn Earlobe and DIY stitch repair

Sorry for not posting more yesterday, but I had my head slammed in a car door (don’t ask!) and got a concussion and didn’t feel like writing. Let me start off today with a pictorial story from “a young lady from Chicago-land” and her earlobe tearing misadventures in the Ukraine involving stitching… I’m actually not convinced this needed to be stitched (I think it would have healed on its own, personally), but I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth!

This story is in her own words — continue reading to see what happened.


“Adventures in doing laundry: As I hopped down from the chair I was standing on to hang laundry, my rounded horse-shoe piercing (it had one smallish ball and one biggish ball on it) got caught on the wire clothes-line on my Ukrainian balcony. My ear was tearing as the piercing was actually bending (skin is strong!) and then the back ball (luckily, the smaller ball!) exploded through my ear and out came the piercing. The tear was only in the front of the lobe. The ball took a tiny ring of flesh with it, but otherwise the back was undamaged.”

Inset: “What the ring looked like before it bent on the wire, and after… I can’t believe how strong human flesh is! Oh, and don’t mind the little bit of my flesh.”

“Ew, a bit of grit in there!”

“Yeah, um, Ukranian hospitals? No thanks. I’d heard nothing but horror stories all week from my students, and then this. I went with what my dad taught me: Superglue fixes everything. The arrow indicates the end of the tear. It looks good, but actually, I screwed up by getting glue into the tear too, so, eventually, it would all come out in a plug and I’d be back to square one. The piercing is tilted up, btw, to maintain the hole without possibly getting pulled on and opening the tear again. Smart, huh?

“Sure enough, three days later, the superglue all came out and off, leaving the cut wide open again. Nope, still, not going to a Ukrainian hospital. You know, the one time I was in one, an angry nurse chastised me for my piercings and told me that because I had piercings, I would have deformed children! Time for self-done stitches.”

“I actually didn’t mean to make the stitch so wide like that. In retrospect, I think it was good though, because the first and middle stitch was really secure and then the top and bottom stitches didn’t go through as much flesh.”

“Three stitches (the top and the bottom weren’t as deep as the middle). It looks irritated but it’s just camera contrast — it looked great. My roommates were impressed.”

Left: “Immediately after removing the stitches (left them in for six days)” and Right: “Three days after removing the stitches. Yay! I’m a doctor now. It’s not the first time I’ve given myself stitches in fact…”

Comments

168 responses to “Torn Earlobe and DIY stitch repair”

  1. Madeline Avatar
    Madeline

    thats damn impressive!

  2. Madeline Avatar
    Madeline

    thats damn impressive!

  3. Madeline Avatar
    Madeline

    thats damn impressive!

  4. eternalsunshine Avatar

    “I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth”
    Never knew that was an expression in English as well. We say the exact same thing in Dutch (een gegeven paard niet in de bek kijken”.

    Impressive result!
    If i ever need stitches, i’ll let her do mine too.

  5. eternalsunshine Avatar

    “I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth”
    Never knew that was an expression in English as well. We say the exact same thing in Dutch (een gegeven paard niet in de bek kijken”.

    Impressive result!
    If i ever need stitches, i’ll let her do mine too.

  6. eternalsunshine Avatar

    “I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth”
    Never knew that was an expression in English as well. We say the exact same thing in Dutch (een gegeven paard niet in de bek kijken”.

    Impressive result!
    If i ever need stitches, i’ll let her do mine too.

  7. max Avatar
    max

    impressive work!

    #3 – we use the same expression in swedish as well (man skådar inte given häst i munnen)

  8. max Avatar
    max

    impressive work!

    #3 – we use the same expression in swedish as well (man skådar inte given häst i munnen)

  9. max Avatar
    max

    impressive work!

    #3 – we use the same expression in swedish as well (man skådar inte given häst i munnen)

  10. goomy Avatar

    She tried to superglue her ear? That’s what I understood, and doesn’t sound too good.

  11. goomy Avatar

    She tried to superglue her ear? That’s what I understood, and doesn’t sound too good.

  12. goomy Avatar

    She tried to superglue her ear? That’s what I understood, and doesn’t sound too good.

  13. Cardboardfrog Avatar
    Cardboardfrog

    very impressive, but not all ukranian hospitals are horrible backwards places….Foretunately for ukraine

  14. Cardboardfrog Avatar
    Cardboardfrog

    very impressive, but not all ukranian hospitals are horrible backwards places….Foretunately for ukraine

  15. Cardboardfrog Avatar
    Cardboardfrog

    very impressive, but not all ukranian hospitals are horrible backwards places….Foretunately for ukraine

  16. Mangaartist Avatar

    #3,4 – We have the same in Hungarian as well! (Ajándék lónak ne nézd a fogát)

    Very impressive work, well done.

  17. Mangaartist Avatar

    #3,4 – We have the same in Hungarian as well! (Ajándék lónak ne nézd a fogát)

    Very impressive work, well done.

  18. Mangaartist Avatar

    #3,4 – We have the same in Hungarian as well! (Ajándék lónak ne nézd a fogát)

    Very impressive work, well done.

  19. Laurel Avatar

    Wow, she did a really nice job! As for the superglue, my mother once cut her hand really badly while doing dishes and hitting a knife, well the doctors superglued bandaids to her hand so they would hold the cut together instead of stitches I guess….

  20. Laurel Avatar

    Wow, she did a really nice job! As for the superglue, my mother once cut her hand really badly while doing dishes and hitting a knife, well the doctors superglued bandaids to her hand so they would hold the cut together instead of stitches I guess….

  21. Laurel Avatar

    Wow, she did a really nice job! As for the superglue, my mother once cut her hand really badly while doing dishes and hitting a knife, well the doctors superglued bandaids to her hand so they would hold the cut together instead of stitches I guess….

  22. Caroline June Avatar
    Caroline June

    Did the word ‘flesh’ bother anyone else but me?

  23. Caroline June Avatar
    Caroline June

    Did the word ‘flesh’ bother anyone else but me?

  24. Caroline June Avatar
    Caroline June

    Did the word ‘flesh’ bother anyone else but me?

  25. innocent bystander Avatar
    innocent bystander

    #3,4,7 – To complete the collection: We use the same expression here in germany (Einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul)

    Appenently superglue does not fix everything. I wonder if anybody had success with this method 😉

  26. innocent bystander Avatar
    innocent bystander

    #3,4,7 – To complete the collection: We use the same expression here in germany (Einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul)

    Appenently superglue does not fix everything. I wonder if anybody had success with this method 😉

  27. innocent bystander Avatar
    innocent bystander

    #3,4,7 – To complete the collection: We use the same expression here in germany (Einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul)

    Appenently superglue does not fix everything. I wonder if anybody had success with this method 😉

  28. A. Nonny Mous Avatar
    A. Nonny Mous

    Wow, that is impressive! I applied stick-on butterfly stitches to my thumb once when I sliced it really badly, but I was too chicken to actually sew it together. It healed fine anyway – the stick-on bandaid things held it together quite well.

  29. A. Nonny Mous Avatar
    A. Nonny Mous

    Wow, that is impressive! I applied stick-on butterfly stitches to my thumb once when I sliced it really badly, but I was too chicken to actually sew it together. It healed fine anyway – the stick-on bandaid things held it together quite well.

  30. A. Nonny Mous Avatar
    A. Nonny Mous

    Wow, that is impressive! I applied stick-on butterfly stitches to my thumb once when I sliced it really badly, but I was too chicken to actually sew it together. It healed fine anyway – the stick-on bandaid things held it together quite well.

  31. Hon Avatar
    Hon

    it’s really impressive! i guess going to an ukrainian hospital would have left you with a bigger scar.. or maybe you’d have been lucky? who knows.
    #3,4,7 – we have the same in Polish (Darowanemu koniowi nie zagląda się w zęby), 😛

  32. Hon Avatar
    Hon

    it’s really impressive! i guess going to an ukrainian hospital would have left you with a bigger scar.. or maybe you’d have been lucky? who knows.
    #3,4,7 – we have the same in Polish (Darowanemu koniowi nie zagląda się w zęby), 😛

  33. Hon Avatar
    Hon

    it’s really impressive! i guess going to an ukrainian hospital would have left you with a bigger scar.. or maybe you’d have been lucky? who knows.
    #3,4,7 – we have the same in Polish (Darowanemu koniowi nie zagląda się w zęby), 😛

  34. slovan Avatar
    slovan

    #3,4,7 – the same in Slovenia (Podarjenemu konju se ne gleda v zobe…) “nekaj takega”

  35. slovan Avatar
    slovan

    #3,4,7 – the same in Slovenia (Podarjenemu konju se ne gleda v zobe…) “nekaj takega”

  36. slovan Avatar
    slovan

    #3,4,7 – the same in Slovenia (Podarjenemu konju se ne gleda v zobe…) “nekaj takega”

  37. karakins Avatar

    I always thought duct tape fixed everything …

  38. karakins Avatar

    I always thought duct tape fixed everything …

  39. karakins Avatar

    I always thought duct tape fixed everything …

  40. P.moz Avatar
    P.moz

    #3, 4, 7, 10, 12 and 13 Swedish: “skåda aldrig given häst i munnen”

  41. P.moz Avatar
    P.moz

    #3, 4, 7, 10, 12 and 13 Swedish: “skåda aldrig given häst i munnen”

  42. P.moz Avatar
    P.moz

    #3, 4, 7, 10, 12 and 13 Swedish: “skåda aldrig given häst i munnen”

  43. Kyrenna Avatar
    Kyrenna

    Neat stitches…I know I couldn’t do it, with weird angles n all 🙂
    n
    rofl @ everyone talking about the expression, almost more then about the ear. If 3 hadn’t posted it though, I would have 😛

  44. Kyrenna Avatar
    Kyrenna

    Neat stitches…I know I couldn’t do it, with weird angles n all 🙂
    n
    rofl @ everyone talking about the expression, almost more then about the ear. If 3 hadn’t posted it though, I would have 😛

  45. Kyrenna Avatar
    Kyrenna

    Neat stitches…I know I couldn’t do it, with weird angles n all 🙂
    n
    rofl @ everyone talking about the expression, almost more then about the ear. If 3 hadn’t posted it though, I would have 😛

  46. max Avatar
    max

    amazing!! hats off

  47. max Avatar
    max

    amazing!! hats off

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