Lobe

The lobe is the only part of the ear with no cartilage in it — just soft tissue with a generous blood supply. That is the whole reason it behaves so differently from everything above it. Blood carries the cells that close a wound, so a lobe settles in weeks where a helix takes the better part of a year.

It is also forgiving about placement. There is no ridge to follow and no fold to work around, so a piercer has room to put the hole where it looks right rather than where the anatomy allows. Swelling is modest, which is why a 6mm post is usually enough here when cartilage placements need 8mm.

Nothing unusual — saline twice a day, hands off, and sleep however you like. The lobe is the one placement where side-sleeping is not a problem.

Do not change the jewellery before it is fully closed, even though it feels ready early. A lobe that looks healed at four weeks often is not.