Plug (jewellery)

If there are no flares, grooves may be cut near the edges to allow rubber or silicone O-rings to hold the jewellery in place.

Although flesh tunnels are often worn in the earlobe, other soft-tissue piercings (such as in the nasal septum or nipples) can be fitted with one of an appropriate length.

During the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom, both sexes wore a variety of jewelry, including earplugs and large-gauge hoop-style earrings.

[4] Inca men wore gold or silver plugs in the ears, which indicated their nobility.

Their stretched piercings, which could reach the size of two inches, later inspired a Spanish nickname for the Inca people: orejones ("big ears").

[8] During the Bronze Age in what is today Spain, earlobe plugs were uncommon grave goods, indicating that they were reserved for high-status individuals.

An example of an earplug
Totonac figurine wearing prominent earspools
Surgical steel flesh tunnels in four different gauges
Pre-Hispanic earspools crafted from amber , at the Museum of Amber in San Cristobal de las Casas , Chiapas