How long does it take for an ear piercing to close?

Table of Contents

• Will your earring holes close up overnight?
• How long do ear piercings take to heal?
• Why does my ear piercing close so fast? (overnight or after few days)
• My ear piercing closed overnight, what should I do?
• How to close ear piercing hole permanently
• Conclusion on how long does it take for an ear piercing to close

Last Updated on 22nd March 2022

Ear piercings and body piercings are very common beauty accessories for all ages and genders. Buyers have a wide range of earrings to choose from but it is advised to invest in best quality jewellery. But many people want to know how long does it take for a piercing to close.

The main issues that people ask themselves are: How long do I have to leave my studs in before changing them? How long will my ear piercings take to heal? What can I do to help my ears heal? Will the ear-piercing close up overnight if the earring is removed?

With men’s earring still in trend, ear piercings can be safe and simple to get done but they are guidelines that will need to be followed for the piercing to be completed properly and to make sure the opening stays for easy use.

Furthermore, piercings are the latest trend, and this means you might be keen on some earrings you just spotted. Consequently, you would want to know how soon you can remove the pierced earrings and then when to wear the new ones you just purchased without agonizing over if that piercing will close up or not.

Will your earring holes close up overnight?

For the most part, you would need to wear the hoops put in during piercing until your stud openings close up well. Within the first week, removing the first pierced earrings before the hole heals would lead to the closing up of the ear piercing.

You would need to remember that various kinds of ear piercings take different times to heal so before you decide to remove the stud out, you should make sure the area around your piercing has completed healed. As a guideline example, ear lobe piercings take approximately 6 weeks to heal but you still would need to be careful after the duration of time.

There are around 15 places around your ear that you can make a hole in. These include the lobe, upward along the outer cartilage, inward along the part of the ear attached to your head and several places in the centre. You have the option to choose where you feel the piercing would be comfortable in your ear.

For a healthy and quick healing process, particularly when you need to make more than one piercing at one time, we suggest that you get no more than 3 piercings. Restricting the number of piercings to 3 means that they will heal properly, and you’ll be able to manage the pain more easily.

How long do ear piercings take to heal?

A channel is made through your skin during piercing, and the body will create skin cells/epithelial cells along the pierced stud during the healing process. When new cells have been created right down the length of the piercing and around the stud, the epithelial cells will develop into a fistula/tube.

The fully developed fistula/tube could remain open for quite a long time (ranging from years to months) after the jewellery removal. Some of the fistulas developed are heartier and thicker than others. Note that ear, navel, and nipple piercings regularly remain open for life since there is no mucosa in the hole’s inner lining. Besides the area of the piercing, another thing that influences the hole closing time is the age of the piercing and soreness.

The age of the piercing and soreness could speed up the closing time. However, you should not re-pierce the same hole as it would increase the risk of infection and would increase the healing process.

Why does my ear piercing close so fast? (overnight or after few days)

Another ear-piercing may close quickly, either overnight or after a couple of days if the stud or jewellery is not held in the hole. The primary reason why this would happen to you is that the pierced ear had not healed completely. As referenced above, skin cells, called epithelial cells (and epithelial tissue), should initially develop around the piercing before the fistula creates and develops around the earring.

In case you get the stud out too early before it completely heals, the epithelial tissue from the opposite side of the piercing would fuse and the hole will close up. The healing time of an earlobe piercing could be around 4 to 6 weeks whereas the healing time for a cartilage piercing would take much longer to heal.

To get a shorter healing time for an ear piercing, don’t move the stud/earring, don’t irritate the ear and clean the area as directed.

My ear piercing closed overnight, what should I do?

You may have followed the advice strictly and the piercing may look healed but potentially despite many years of healing, wearing clip-on hoop earrings for a few months could lead to the piercing closing up overnight.

What should you do if this happens?

You’ll have to see what type of closed piercing you have to work with. The piercing could be either partially closed off (the top or bottom half could be closed up) or completely closed off.

If the closure is partial, you may be able to put an earring through from either side. If it has closed fully then we would advise you to seek professional help to re-open your piercing.

How to close ear piercing hole permanently

Larger holes or tears may need sewing up, but usually if you take all jewellery out any holes in the ear lobe or septum will heal although time will vary based on how recent the piercing is. To avoid infection, try to keep the area clean with saline solution.

Conclusion on how long does it take for an ear piercing to close

Managing a closed piercing may be stressful but the above advice should help

The most terrible issues that could occur, other than diseases, include unsightly scarring, extra scar tissue, and you’ll never be able to have a piercing in the same area.

If the closure is hard to cope with, get women or men’s clip-on hoop earrings or ideally a stud that you can easily sit in and let the piercing heal. You can also expand the size of the stud a long time after the healing to lessen the possibility of closure.