Hopkinsville Kentuckian

ABOUT EAR-RINGS
Medical Advice as to Piercing the Ear for Ornaments.

There is a custom, a relic of savage life, by which the women of our day seek to add attraction to their beauty—the piercing of the lobe of the ear and wearing in the hole some form of ornament—an ear-ring. This operation is performed, as a rule, as soon as a little miss has arrived at the age of accountability, and it is relegated to the hands of artisans—jewelers. A piece of flesh is punched out of the lobe, so that a small canal remains; a piece of string, a straw or any thing convenient that will go through, covered, perhaps, by grease or vaseline, is pushed into the hole. The little girl goes around for a week or two with a dirty string or straw in her ear; the lobe is swollen and looks ugly, but never mind, it will add to her beauty in the end. The wound may become very much inflamed, so that an abscess of the lobe may take place, and when this is cured the ear may be disfigured for life. The lobe may be shrunken in consequence or the hole may be too large. This perhaps, does not happen very frequently, but it nevertheless happens and the work has to be repaired, if possible, by the surgeon. It is a pity that this operation can not be relegated to surgery. Surgeons operate daily for cosmetic effect; why may they not do this? It would be prophylaxis rather than cure.

Some women will insist upon wearing heavy pendant ear-rings. These by their weight will enlarge the hole and make the lobe unsightly. The surgeon's knife has also been required to remedy this evil. These pendant ear-rings are very apt to catch in drapery. It is gratifying to know that pendant ear-rings are less frequently worn now than formerly. The consensus of opinion seems to be in favor of those, that lie close to the ear, that do not hang down. A silver leaf or a diamond drop set into the pink of a well-shaped lobe is a "thing of beauty and a joy forever."—Medical Classics.