Does it Work?Unsure if the latest product or service lives up to it's claims? From popular products to the latest scams, discuss it here before you buy!
Im from Oklahoma (this is my first post other than in the buddy up thread!) and I started hearing about the ear stapling a couple weeks ago. I work in a cafe and Im seeing people with it on average of once a week. The first time I saw it I wanted to ask the lady if it was working but thought that might be rude. She had a hard time deciding what to eat and settled on a salad as we dont exactly cater to the dieting-lots of frying and down home food!
I guess theres a doctor here doing it for about $60. I cant believe that it actually works...
I had my ears stapled a year or two ago. It was a traveling doctor who came to Texas. It cost me $75 to get both ears stapled. It is supposedly like continuous acupuncture, and they staple inside of your ear, above the hole. It hurt really bad! After one week, I removed one of them with the gadget they gave me to remove them. They said to let them know quickly if it didn't work, and they would try it again for free, up to a year. I left the other one in for several weeks, it never worked, but, made for a lot of interesting conversation by people who noticed it in my ear. I only know of one kid that said it worked on him, but, he gained his weight back quickly. The doctor was really upfront that there was only about a 50 percent chance it would work, if that much. He also said that if it was going to work, it would work immediately. I've decided it was a waste of money.
I am new to this forum. I did have my ears stapled last Thursday. It cost $55.00. It really hurt at first. Will keep you posted. I think in this weight loss world everyone has their moment of trying something outragious.
I've never even had my ears pierced ... just seems like a lot of extra pain I could do without. Will be interested in your follow-up experiences, Kar Kar!
I've never even had my ears pierced ... just seems like a lot of extra pain I could do without. Will be interested in your follow-up experiences, Kar Kar!
Slightly off topic but I've had my ears pierced (the lobes) and it really doesn't hurt. Those piercing guns get the job done in a second.
Back to ear stapling - again, this is a FAD that has come and gone over the years, and now I suppose has come back again for a little bit (apparently mostly in the Southwestern region as I've yet to see it happen here in CA). Most of the "positive" remarks I'm reading - both here and on the 'Net - have either been from people actually DOING ear stapling (I wouldn't call THEM exactly an 'unbiased source of information') or people who have had it done, or "I know a guy..." or heard of someone having it done, most of whom have had it done a relatively short time ago and have lost a small weight, most likely from what Tealeaf has said is the 'placebo' effect. Folks...this doesn't mean it WORKS. If ear stapling "worked" there would be LOTS of people losing and KEEPING OFF, for the LONG TERM, a significant percentage of their weight.
Meanwhile here's this recent article from the Batesville (Ark) Daily Guard:
Ear stapling is similar to true acupuncture in that its goal is to stimulate a nerve through piercing, but the similarities end there. Most acupuncture techniques make use of 10, 20 or even 100 needles and only stimulate the targeted meridian points for a few hours, not constantly. Also, a staple is relatively large when compared to an acupuncture needle and could do more damage to the flesh than is intended. Acupuncturists never pierce cartilage. The chance of serious infection is much higher with the stapling as well, and clients could experience nausea and other side effects.
“There’s a serious medical risk here. The cartilage does not replace itself, meaning those who get the ear staple will have permanent holes in their ears. Why would you want to let someone with no medical background place a foreign object in your ear,” Betsy Day, clinic coordinator for the weight loss clinic at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science, told the Guard. “It would seem rather suspect if medical physicians are performing the operation.”
IMO not a pretty sight - if you wear your hair over your ears this might not be a big deal but having permanent marks where they can be seen...not my cuppa tea personally...
and about licensed acupuncturists doing the procedure:
Quote:
...according to Dr. Michael Ranft, a doctor of oriental medicine, DOMs and other holistic healers are prevented by law from performing the procedure.
“Licensed oriental doctors cannot do it. Medical doctors have a universal license which allows them to perform such procedures,” Ranft said. “Acupuncturists don’t do it because it requires piercing the cartilage, and we don’t do that; we work with soft flesh. We don’t use staples in our practice, and you can run into problems when you leave what is supposed to be a temporary staple in someone’s ear for months ... People want to leave these in for months, but I would want to check it every week or so.”
My guess is that this current wave of ear stapling will burn out after a few months or a year...then in about five or ten years its proponents will come out of the woodwork again - after people have forgotten that it doesn't work, they'll just remember that lots of people TRIED it.
And IMO opinion (keeping in mind that while I know several people who HAVE had acupuncture, though not for weight loss) I don't believe this is the same as acupuncture, it might be VAGUELY related but for the reasons stated above - going into cartilage and leaving the staple in - not the same as acupuncture.
Update: My ears have been hurting after the stapling experience. My co-workers were fine but was not seeing any results so we went back yesterday to have them adjusted. The lady told me that my ears were slightly infected ( I cleaned them like you were suppose to) and that I needed to wait 3-4 days before having them replaced. So I will give it another shot since I already paid for it. I will let you know what happens. My co-worker has not had any "experiences" yet.
But how does ear stapling differ from simply having one's ears pierced and placing foreign objects in it for cosmetic purposes? I've never done either, so am not clear on that. Ears are pierced everyday in the mall, I was just curious as to how this is different?
Ears are pierced everyday in the mall, I was just curious as to how this is different?
Look at the photo MrsJim posted. That's through cartilage, not the soft tissue of the ear lobes. Much more danger of infection, if nothing else. Not to mention that there are hygeine standards involved in even mall kiosks when it comes to lobe peircing. I'd have serious doubts over the sterility of someone traveling around with some sort of stapler (and those do look like normal staples as well).
More to the point, though, no one's telling you you'll magically lose weight by having your ears done the normal way.
I got my ears stapled about 3 months ago and for the first couple weeks i was really tired and craved water. Now 3 months later they're still in and doing NOTHING! My best advise would be to not get them, I've got two tattoos and my toung and bellybutton pierced and i'd rather do those again than get my ears stapled. It only cost me $25 for both ears and there were about 6 of us who went and got it done, needless to say, we thought it was worth a try for $25 (They also claimed it would help you quit smoking, and help with medical problems.) and we were wrong, none of us have lost any weight, we're all still smoking like freight trains and now we've all got staples in our ears that, me personally, we're afraid to take out because it hurts putting them in and most things hurt worse coming out. But honestly it's not worth the time, pain, or money.
"Slightly off topic but I've had my ears pierced (the lobes) and it really doesn't hurt. Those piercing guns get the job done in a second."
Piercing guns are the DEVIL! Nevermind the fact that a blunt object is being rammed through your ears, you're trusting someone who had a 5 minute "instructional" use a non-sterile instrument (which can carry hepatitis, AIDS, and any number of things on them) with your body. Those things need to be outlawed....(ok, so yes, slightly anal-retentive when it comes to the ear piercing guns, theyre just not safe)
Thanks for your response to my question, Mama! Very good points, no pun intended.
Wanted to clarify that I've never been of the opinion that ear stapling for weight loss is effective, safe or useful. I just wasn't clear as to the difference between regular ear piercing and weight loss ear stapling, as I've never done either.
The stapling fad seems a little like the botox parties that were somewhat popular years ago ... I went to one ... declined to be shot in the face with toxins from a needle wielded by a person with no qualifications of any kind to be invading people's bodies.
And, by the way, where they are putting the staples is called a daith piercing. By god, if that area worked so well, my friends and I would be beanpoles.
Will be interested in your follow-up experiences, Kar Kar! 
I don't know anyone who they have worked on.
