How long does it take for an ear piercing to heal?

Brian: How long shoud I wait to re-pierce my ears? How long does it take for an ear piercing to heal?
I pierced both of my ears using a disposable piercing gun about 2 years ago. I have noticed that my right ear piercing is fairly crooked and I want to give both piercings enough time to fully close before I get it done professionally. Thanks ahead guys and help from anybody experienced with this kind of thing will be very much appreciated!

Answers and Views:

Answer by Resource Dragon
If the holes have healed completely then I would not expect them to go away if you take the earrings out now. If, however, you ‘retire’ the piercings, they will shrink to almost invisible in a year or so (provided you haven’t stretched them either deliberately or accidentally).

As to when you get them re-pierced, that depends upon what you are planning on. If you don’t want the holes exactly where the present ones are, then you could get them properly re-pierced immediately. If you are planning on stretching your lobes you could also go for an immediate re-piercing (with a large gauge of needle, which would basically remove the current holes). If you want to get them re-pierced in exactly the same place, then I would advise you to give them a year or so.

Whatever your plans are, get them redone by a professional who knows what they are doing and who uses a needle. Otherwise, you may just end up with another pair of unsatisfactory holes. You’ll also find the needle piercing hurts less afterwards (no hot, throbbing sensation) and should heal more easily.

Answer by Cassie
Although they would shrink if you took out the jewellery, I think the only way to make a piercing which has been healed for so long to actually disappear is to reopen to wound. Some piercing shops will offer to use a biger gauged needle to kind of cut out the existing hole and make a new one which is an item wound, but saying this, a lot of a scar tissue would be formed that way. It might be easier simply to go and get the existing hole sorted out by a piercer. Most shops offer this is service – they are able to adjust the placement of the existing hole using a new semi-piercing.
I would advise you go to your local piercing parlour (if you’re embarrassed about having done it yourself, just say you has it done at a salon with a gun?)
Hope this helped! Sorry it’s so complicated 😛