If you have ear piercings (whether one or a bunch), you’re probably familiar with those teeny, clear, silicone earring backs that come with a new set of earrings. They’re super clutch for me when you lose one of your regular metal flatbacks and need to secure your studs. However, according to a recent TikTok PSA that’s starting to go viral, those clear rubbery backings can actually be super risky to wear for an extended amount of time.

On Thursday, Oct 10, TikTok creator Amber Guttilla shared her recent experience of almost being sent to the hospital over her clear earring backs getting stuck like glue to her earrings. Speaking exclusively with Well+Good, Guttilla says “it was a really surreal moment” when she realized she would need professional intervention to remove her earrings. In her TikTok, Guttilla explains that she had been wearing silicone earring backs for “a month or two” before she tried to take them off. “Let me be the first to tell you,” Guttilla said in her video, “these are not meant to be worn long-term.”

Guttilla says she initially thought that the difficulty removing the silicone backs was a user error, but after multiple failed attempts by both her and her fiancé, she tells us she went to New Flower Body Piercing Studio in Long Beach, California to get professional help. 

Guttilla says that piercer informed her that silicone earring backs are super porous and tend to absorb lots of dirt, oil, sweat, and makeup, which then creates a “glue-like” substance that almost “fuses” with the back of your earring, making them difficult—or impossible—to take out. Guttilla’s piercer also told her that the last person who came in with silicone backs wore them for a year and needed to go to the hospital to get them removed.

Luckily, the process didn’t require a trip to the hospital for Guttilla, but she tells Well+Good that it did require some brute strength on behalf of the piercer. “He took me into a private space, got gloved up, sterilized my ears with alcohol, and used two clamp tools to hold on both sides of the earring, then used his strength to pull them apart,” she tells us. “It took about six or seven minutes total, and it was a little painful because he had to twist my lobe to pry the earring and the silicone apart.”

The pain was worth it to Guttilla, who could walk out of the shop with silicone-free earrings. “I looked at what was pried out, and the silicone was yellow,” she tells us. “I had no clue that silicone was porous and genuinely felt blindsided once I learned that they shouldn’t be worn regularly.”

Was this just a fluke?

According to Hadley King, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City, “silicone can stick to the skin because of the chemical properties of the polymer, creating an adhesive effect.” Combine that reaction with body heat, pressure, and time, “and the adhesive effect can become stronger,” she says.

“We see this a lot with earrings overall, where a buildup of wax, oils, or anything can sit in the space of the earring back and harden,” says Marisa Garshick, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City. “This doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily congealing with the silicone, but buildup can get stuck in the plug of the earring back, making it harder to come out.”

The aftermath

Guttilla’s learning moment has since sparked discourse on TikTok (her video currently has over 1.5 million views), about proper earring care to avoid similar situations. “Wait…are we not all taking our earrings out before bed?” one commenter asked on the video, while another added: “Sleeping and showering with jewelry, especially earrings, is wild.”

While Guttilla’s comments section is split between whether you should or should not be removing earrings daily, Dr. Garshick says generally, it’s a good habit to remove them regularly. Still, it isn’t always possible for some piercings (like a new cartilage piercing that needs to stay in for healing, for example), which is why you should avoid silicone backs altogether if you’re someone who forgets to—or can’t—remove your earrings daily.

“I personally take my earrings out every night, but that doesn’t have to be the case for everyone,” says Dr. Garshick. “Removing them regularly, if not daily, can allow you to clean around the piercing area thoroughly and also help relieve tension from the ear if you wear drop earrings or hoops.” 

If you aren’t taking your earrings out daily, Dr. Garshick says you can regularly remove buildup with a clean cotton swab soaked in water (or saline piercing solution) to clean the area gently. “If you feel like buildup is stuck in the back of your earrings, you can also use a petrolatum-based product like Vaseline or Aquaphor and massage it in the area to loosen things up,” she says.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, taking your earrings out daily (or not) is a personal choice and habit, but if buildup and avoiding irritation is your goal, try to clean your earrings as frequently as possible. “A lot of the time, earrings become part of your daily appearance, so it’s easy to forget about things back there—it doesn’t mean that you’re dirty or wrong; buildup is completely normal,” Dr. Garshick says. And to be safe, why not skip the silicone altogether and go for titanium or gold flatbacks?