Dr. Sandra Lee is helping a woman with earlobe restoration after a lifetime of stretching led to ulcers and the eventual split of her left earlobe in the upcoming episode of Dr. Pimple Popper. In an exclusive sneak peek clip of the Feb. 8 episode shared exclusively with PopCulture.com, the renowned dermatologist meets with Shakisaha, who has suffered tissue damage after years of stretching.
Speaking with cameras ahead of her appointment with Lee, Shakisaha admitted she was “excited, but nervous” to meet with Lee, as she didn’t “know what the end result is going to be.” She told Lee there has been “about 20 years worth of stretching,” and her “last stretch was three inches.” Shakisaha said after that last stretch, ulcers developed on both of her ears, causing her left earlobe to split eventually. According to Lee, Shakisaha’s earlobes have suffered necrosis or the “death of tissue.”
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“Necrosis is death of tissue. Necrosis happens where you have the least amount of blood supply,” Lee explained. “Her specific case, she has a high risk for necrosis because she has stretched her earlobes to such a degree that the blood is supplying a much longer area, and there’s only so much blood supply you’re getting from your ear. She’s lucky that the whole thing didn’t necrose.”
Despite the severity of the necrosis to her earlobe, Shakisaha said her ideal outcome would be “a repair” so that she can “retain having a stretched ear.” Speaking with the cameras, Lee admitted she was “shocked” to hear this given “all the problems Shakisaha has had with her earlobes.” Although Lee said, “the best survival is just like making it a regular earlobe” again, Shakisaha was adamant she retains a stretched look, as a regular earlobe is “not aesthetically pleasing.” She said her “heart sank” at the thought of having her earlobe restored to normal, telling the camera, “that is so not me.” Thankfully, Lee was able to come up with another solution.
“I just was thinking about this, that this is a possibility. We could refresh the edges of the little dangles and reattach them,” Lee suggested. “Now, if I did that, I don’t know if that means if it would give you with the same size plug, ok? And, I would say you would have to wait ideally, even like three months before you were to put something in there. And I don’t think you could stretch it anymore. If you did, or say you wore something weighted, I mean, it would just break.”
Dr. Pimple Popper launched in January 2018 and followed Lee to help patients with potentially dangerous skin conditions. The next new episode of Dr. Pimple Popper airs exclusively on discovery+. Past episodes are also available on the streaming platform.
