Step 1
Use a stud post and just check to see if the piercing is open. Make sure to sanitize it with alcohol first! Go through the piercing from the front and if it feels stuck, try going through the piercing hole from the back. If this works, skip to step 4.
Step 2
If the post isn’t completely going through the piercing, you can try to massage the pierced area as well as lightly tug on your lobe away from your head to kind of warm up and stretch out the ear. This will help to soften the skin and make easing the post into the piercing a bit easier. If this works, skip to step 4.
Step 3
If you’ve already gotten to the point where the post is basically through your ear, you feel the post either from the front or the back and can SEE the post coming through, but just can’t get it through the last thin piece of skin, then that last obstacle to work through is scar tissue. At this point we recommend that you see a piercing specialist. We do not advise taking this last step yourself, but our friend was pretty determined at this point since she was able to get through the first two steps but really needed help on this step since she was so close. We first checked to see if there were no blood vessels, used a sharper needle, and poked through that last layer. This took us around 20 minutes to muster up the courage to poke through that last year with enough force. It was so well established and tight over time that we even heard a “POP!” when we pierced through the tissue! She said she didn’t feel a thing at this last stage, but I have to mention she is a BEAST at handling pain! Again, we cannot recommend doing this without the help of a piercing specialist, we just wanted to document our experience.
Step 4
Success! We got the hole opened! Now we just need to leave the piercing in and clean the area at and around the piercing on the front and back of the ear with alcohol or wound wash. If you’re trying to switch to another earring, use the post that is currently in your ear as a guide to lead the new earring in. I have piercings that were unfortunately done in some very weird angles (shown below), so this is a necessary step for me even when changing out my existing earrings.
If none of the steps above worked for you, we recommend finding a piercing studio that will use a hollow needle to reopen the hole within the same tract, rather than a mall stand that will use a piercing gun. This is always a better option than creating a new hole. But if creating a new hole is the only option remaining, then just make sure it’s as close to your original piercing as possible. A gun isn’t predictable in its movement so although it will get the job done, if the person piercing isn’t super careful, you could accidentally create another tract in your original piercing.
