Take Years Off Your Ears With 'Eartox'
— -- Once you've erased forehead lines and crows feet, maybe even had a face lift, there's still one dead give away sign of aging.
Drooping ear lobes.
And while it's commonly referred to as "eartox," or botox for ears, it's actually fillers like Restylane and Juvederm that women are turning to to take years off their ears.
Dr. Steven Davis, a plastic surgeon in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, said the practice is now becoming more popular as fillers become more mainstream and patients and doctors get more creative with their use. "It's created poetic license to think outside the box," he said.
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As people age, the tissue in the ear lobe becomes thinned out much the way the skin on the backs of hands do, he explained. "Ears can give away your age."
Angelique Foster from Lumberton, New Jersey had a two-fold problem with her ear lobes. The first was stretched-out earring holes as a result of wearing "the heavy earrings of the 80s," she said. The second issue was thinning lobes.
"When you look at these younger people they have volume in their ear lobes," she said. "A youthful face, youthful ears have volume." So she got filler injected into her lobes and paid between $300 - $400. Now, she said, "my earrings look like they're sitting on a pillow."
Davis said the end result is a "zone that's nice and juicy." Foster is 50 years old; Davis said the procedure is requested by women as young as 30 and as old as 80.
Dr. Norman Rowe, a cosmetic surgeon in New York City, told ABC News that Botox can be used in the ears for medical reasons too, particularly ringing of the ears. But it can also be used to stop ear flushing, or redness of the ears which may happen at inopportune times, like interviews or dates. "I’ve been doing it for years," he said. "Just more people are learning about the procedure now."
And while those drooping lobes may be a dead giveaway of a woman's age, chances are not many people notice other than the woman herself. For Foster, no one commented on her ears before or after the procedure. But still, she loved the results. "I was very self conscious,, but now it's something I feel better about."
