If Your Piercing Hole Closes, Here's What Dermatologists Recommend (2024)

Getting a new piercing is an exciting feeling. Sometimes, though, if your jewelry is removed and the piercing site is not properly cared for, your piercing can close—meaning the hole regenerates tissue that grows over the hole and makes it impossible to put jewelry in.

"Rather than healing around the path of injury, the scar tissues closes up the path, and the two sides of skin contact each other, blocking the original pierced opening," says dermatologist Dr. Rachel Nazarian.

However, there is the hope that a piercing hole can be re-opened. To prevent the problem from happening in the first place, it's important to keep track of how long the site goes without jewelry and to regularly care for and clean your piercing—even months or years after getting it done. Ahead, experts share everything you need to do when your piercing hole closes, including answering the age-old question: how long does it take for a piercing to close?

How Long Does It Take for a Piercing to Close?

A piercing can close in a few hours, days, weeks, or much longer. This comes down to a few factors, a major one being the age of the piercing. The location of the piercing and how closely you adhere to proper aftercare are other factors tied to piercings closing. "It will vary from body to body—and even piercing to piercing," says Lynn. "Generally speaking, the older and more established a piercing is, the longer it will take to close and heal."

New Piercings

If it's a brand-new piercing, removing the jewelry could cause it to close up in a matter of hours. During the healing period, the jewelry acts as a boundary to hold the skin in a specific shape while new tissue is regenerated. If removed, that tissue will grow back over the piercing site. This applies to piercings that are not fully healed—which takes around six months.

Old Piercings

An older piercing doesn't put you in the clear, either, though. Removing a piece of jewelry may seem to cause no harm since the area is healed; however, while the piercing may be fully shaped and the tissue regrown around it, it's not permanent. Extremely old piercings—like those received in childhood or decades ago—may even take a long time to close up without jewelry.

Regardless of research, everyone's body is different, so there's no real science of how long it will take for a piercing to close. The general rule of thumb is that the longer it's in, the longer it will take to close, but you run the risk of it happening any time you remove the jewelry.

Can You Re-Open a Closed Hole?

If the hole appears to be fully closed, there’s no way to re-open it yourself—forcing jewelry through will result in a bloody, open wound and possibly an infection. However, there is a chance that a “closed” hole is only actually partially covered. A thin layer of skin may have grown over the hole, leaving the piercing hole just beneath it.

If you believe your piercing is just partially closed over—which typically only happens as soon as it begins to close—you can try to re-open it manually. It is imperative that if you try this, though, that you don’t try to force a stud through the skin, as this will break the skin. "If you can't slide your jewelry back in after a warm shower, don't force it—go and see a reputable professional,” says Lynn.

Lynn suggests seeing a professional body piercer who can attempt to re-open it for you if you're having trouble. "I'd say about 75 percent of my clients who come in for a re-piercing leave with an insertion,” says Lynn. "Even if you can't get your jewelry back in at home, there's a good chance that your piercer may be able to."

How to Re-Open a Closed Hole

If you believe the piercing is only partially covered, you can attempt a gentle re-opening of the hole. Follow the steps below but if you encounter any issues, turn to a professional for expert help.

1. Wet the area with warm water in a bath or shower to soften the skin.
2. Using a gentle ointment like Vaseline or Aquaphor, gently stretch your earlobe down and to the sides to attempt to open the hole.
3. Try pushing a small stud through the hole; if it doesn’t go in, don’t force it.
4. If the stud goes in, keep it in for a few weeks to make sure the hole is fully re-opened before inserting a new piece of jewelry.
   

How to Prevent a Hole Closing

People who want to be sure the piercing hole doesn't close up while not wearing jewelry—whether you choose not to or can't wear it for an extended period—will be dismayed to hear that there's no real way to avoid the issue without wearing jewelry.

"The goal is to keep the 'scar tunnel' open and [to] not traumatize the area again, which might induce it to close with more scar tissue," says Nazarian.

Keep a Small Stud In

Nazarian recommends always keeping a small stud in the piercing site and rotating it regularly, using a product like Aquaphor or Vaseline for lubrication. If you need to remove the jewelry for whatever reason, she says that placing a small stud in the hole when possible and using a small amount of product to rotate it a few times a day will help keep the area open without irritating it.

"If the area ever bleeds or is pulled and traumatized—which increases the risk that it closes up—immediately use this same regimen again for a few weeks," says Nazarian.

Use Skin Tone Jewelry or a Glass Retainer

Lynn suggests wearing small, flat designs or choosing a piece that matches your natural skin tone if you're considering taking out your jewelry because you're worried about it being seen. If it's a medical procedure, says Lynn, you can wear a glass retainer. No matter the reason, make sure you're keeping something in the hole—at least every once in a while—and remember that you shouldn't remove the jewelry until the piercing is fully healed.

"The only definite way to keep a piercing open is to keep jewelry in it," says Lynn. "If you have to keep it out for an extended period, you can re-insert jewelry periodically to ensure it stays open."

Can You Re-Pierce the Hole?

Yes, you most likely can re-pierce the hole. Despite your piercing hole closing, what grows back is the same tissue as before—just scarred. As Nazarian says, "Piercing again requires you to injure the skin through scarred tissue." And depending on how traumatized your body was with the original piercing, you may be able to re-pierce the hole.

Because the tissue grows back—albeit scarred—it can easily be pierced again. However, it's important to make sure the area is fully done healing before going back in with another needle.

"If there's an abundance of scar tissue present, your piercer will evaluate how safe it is to re-pierce," says Lynn. "Sometimes, it's a matter of waiting longer until your body re-absorbs the scar tissue. Sometimes you can't re-pierce it at all. I see the latter often in single-point piercings that have the same entry and exit point, like surface anchors."

Camp notes that the duration of time you should wait to re-pierce the hole will also depend on the site. "Thicker, more cartilaginous sites, such as the tragus, will require more time than the soft ear lobe," he says.

How to Care for Your Piercing

Once your piercing has been re-inserted, you'll want to ensure the area remains clean. Camp emphasizes making sure that your hands are clean before touching a piercing and to "wash the piercing with a gentle cleanser once or twice a day, thoroughly rinsing the site afterward." You can use saline solution or soap and water for cleansing your piercing site.

Products like petroleum jelly can be applied in a thin layer around the piercing to create a barrier to protect from infection and create an environment that encourages skin healing. As always, monitor the site for signs of infection, such as redness, swelling, warmth, pain, and pus, says Camp.

The Final Takeaway

If you’re worried about your piercing hole closing over because you need to remove the jewelry, your best bet is to periodically re-insert the jewelry. However, if you can avoid taking out the jewelry for an extended period of time at all—either by switching to flat jewelry or a glass retainer—it’s best to do so.

If you find that your lifestyle requites you to remove your piercing frequently, you might want to reconsider the jewelry, as removing it so frequently might cause further damage if you forget to care for it properly, or don't remember to reinsert it after removal. No matter what, never attempt to remove your jewelry at all until your piercing is fully healed. Otherwise, you can almost guarantee it’ll close up.