Question About Stretched Ears

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Hey everyone,

I'm currently a senior in high school and I will be in the nursing program this Fall 2012 for my freshmen year. I plan to get my Master's in Nurse Practitioning and I either want to work in pediatrics or labor. One problem I have is that my ears are stretched to one inch. I live in Indiana and stretched ears are actually really common here. My friend's sister is a Phycatrist and her ears are 1 1/2 or close to 2 inches. I just wanted to get some input on some nurses that work at hospitals and was wondering what the requirements were and or if their hospital didn't like ear stretching.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Most, if not all, hospitals have a policy on professional dress. Ours: No more than 3 earrings in each ear, studs only. No visible tattoos. No guaging of earlobes, nor facial piercing. No fake nails for anyone who enters patient care areas. And yes, they do enforce it and yes people have been fired. Our VP on Nursing does monthly rounds on each floor, and if you are out of dress code she calls you on it. You had better correct it or the next time she sees you, you get fired.

You need to look professional, especially as a student and even more so when you are done and interviewing. We had one girk show up with all kinds of piercings and a neck tattoo. When asked about it she said they were her present to herself for graduation. I handed her our dress policy and said that I was sorry, but we couldn't consider her. You can have a master's degree or a doctorate and if you don't look professional...well let's just say, first impressions last a long time.

Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.
You said this in the other thread about gauges. So, i guess i will repeat myself too. Having gauges does not make you a protected population. Thats like saying that having neon green hair makes you a protected population. It has nothing to do with age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc. If the interviewer perceives it as unprofessional, then they can choose not to hire you based on that. If i am wrong and you can cite a source that lists an american teen having gauged ears as a protected population, i will recant immediately.

OP, if employers really like you, they may tell you that if you ditch the jewelry as terms of your employment they will hire you. But, it will be easier to call the next applicant on the list.

never said plugs are a protected group... but any hiring agent out there will have more sense than to admit that the person didn't get hired due to a body modification. You said it yourself - just easier to go to the next applicant on the list

I guess we just had different experiences then. The manager that i used to work for had no issue not hiring people for anything she perceived as unprofessional. She did not sugar coat it either. Wearing converse with your slacks, having non natural colored hair, visible tattoos, excessive body jewelry, etc. She said to me once, "If this is how they dress do an interview when they know i will be scrutinizing them, how will they dress when i am out of the office?"

I just dont want the OP to think that huge gauges alone is not reason enough to skip them for some interviewers. It absolutely is.

Specializes in retired LTC.
Most, if not all, hospitals have a policy on professional dress. Ours: No more than 3 earrings in each ear, studs only. No visible tattoos. No guaging of earlobes, nor facial piercing. No fake nails for anyone who enters patient care areas. And yes, they do enforce it and yes people have been fired. Our VP on Nursing does monthly rounds on each floor, and if you are out of dress code she calls you on it. You had better correct it or the next time she sees you, you get fired.

You need to look professional, especially as a student and even more so when you are done and interviewing. We had one girk show up with all kinds of piercings and a neck tattoo. When asked about it she said they were her present to herself for graduation. I handed her our dress policy and said that I was sorry, but we couldn't consider her. You can have a master's degree or a doctorate and if you don't look professional...well let's just say, first impressions last a long time.

You were honest!
Several years prior to going to nursing school, I had to have several surgeries. When I was wheeled into the floor where I was staying I saw a couple of younger guys with tats up the neck. I don't recall if they were doing the ear stretching thing. I was under a great deal of pain and stress, and when I got to my room, I told the person wheeling me there, that I absolutely did not want those guys taking care of me. I wanted ordinary people taking care of me. I don't know why, I just didn't need the extra stress of worrying about who the heck these guys were, if they were good people, etc. when I was so sick.

I'm sorry if you don't like it, or if you think I am bigoted, I am just a pragmatist. Stuff like that is scary to a large part of the population. They will think you are a freak.

Oh, and you might want to learn to spell if you want to be taken seriously as well. It's Psychiatrist.

Jane

excuse me. I have tattoos, and I worked hard to get my diploma like everyone else! I am completley offended that you have decided that because I have tattoos I am someone you need to 'figure out', and am a 'freak.' I am a nurse just like YOU. My tattoos don't get in the way of me giving the BEST care to my patients. Maybe you need to reevaluate how you judge other people that you don't know--and the fact that you are JUSTIFYING this opinion still, tells me that despite working in the profession you'd likely still do the same thing all over again today. How close minded. I am an 'ordinary' person.

Specializes in LTC, wound care.

Hi,

I was writing of my experience as a patient, prior to nursing school. I am a nurse now, and have friends with tats. Some visible, some not. I work with staff that have tats. A couple gals have tiny nose piercings. I personally don't have trouble with tats as long as my patients wouldn't find them offensive.

Jane

quite a change from the last post where you said people will think we are freaks.

Specializes in Forensic Psych.

I don't have one tattoo on my body and all this thread is doing is making me want to go get a full sleeve...

And then go work at a church camp. Or a nursing home.

I think I have some unresolved rebellion issues.

quite a change from the last post where you said people will think we are freaks.

The reality is that some people will think that certain body alterations are freakish. Older patients especially may have no frame of reference for multiple piercings, ear gauges, extensive tats or other unusual features besides folks who travel on the edges of society and engage in marginal kinds of behavior. They may also wince as they think of the pain involved in getting the piercings and the tats and the rest. This is not their world, and they really don't want to go there.

While standards have loosened a little over the years, none of the things I mentioned above have become truly mainstream. So, facilities set a standard that keeps the focus off the caregiver's appearance and on the patient and the medical matters at hand.

That's why anyone who wants to go into a medical field should probably limit themselves to modifications that can be covered or removed or disguised while on the job.

Heya! I am a first year nursing student here in Texas, and I get your fears. Let me share a few thoughts and bits from my own gauged experience.

I joined the military in 2002 and did physical therapy for them for two years; my ears were gauged at a 4, and I had several sergeants tell me that the military making me leave them out at work was silly and actually made things weirder for the patients. I worked in one of the busiest military hospitals in the CONUS, and I was routinely in the ortho, hospice, and ICUs, where you can bet that I got plenty of questions about my "holes." Most of my patients were impressed with my competence and my ability, quickly forgetting about my lobes.

I have since worked in an outpatient PT for seven years in a VERY affluent and conservative part of north Texas. Rarely, if ever, have my gauged lobes been brought up, or even looked at twice. We have a hugely busy clinic that takes in a great deal of athletes, soccer moms, kids, and even the elderly. My boss has zero issue with my earrings because I do a great job, and I have even gauged up several times while being at this particular job. My boss' opinion is that if I do a great job, then I am a worthy employee, and if any job market is cutthroat, it's PT. He hired me on my resume, and my attitude. I demonstrated my professionalism to him during the interview process, and that far outsold my earrings.

Here's my finishing thought; I will be wearing band-aids over my holes during clinicals and classes without being asked. I will do this because hospitals tend to be sinkholes of conservatism and stereotyping during the hiring process. If you don't think you can hide them, or if your appearance as a whole swallows up your resume and your demeanor; ditch the gauges. You'll never get hired in a terrible job market. If your resume, your attitude, and your aptitude can outweigh your appearance, and you can present yourself as a professional and one who understands professionalism, then I wouldn't worry much. Unless your gauges fall out when you tip your chin. :D

Cheers!

Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.

So...related question....I have many friends with tats and piercings (common in my social scenes), but always wondered

with stretched earlobes...if you take the gauges out, will the ears shrink?

I wonder because I used to have pierced ears as an adolescent, and my holes closed up with time. So is it possible the

body will heal itself with the stretched lobes?

So...related question....I have many friends with tats and piercings (common in my social scenes), but always wondered

with stretched earlobes...if you take the gauges out, will the ears shrink?

I wonder because I used to have pierced ears as an adolescent, and my holes closed up with time. So is it possible the

body will heal itself with the stretched lobes?

It depends on how far they are stretched as well as how they were stretched. When I was a teenager I had my earlobes stretched to 4g with a tapered instrument. I took the them out a while later and I still have the piercing although I can only fit typical jewelry-type earrings in the holes. I have a friend that had her ear lobes stretched to nearly 1" with a scalpel and she has since removed the jewelry and she has large slits in her lobes and they will likely never close. She cannot wear typical earrings with a post because they will slip out. She can only wear completely round hoop type earrings that spin around her ear lobe.

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