Sweet Sarah

Sounds like you're one of the unlucky ones. Let me guess: years of wearing cinder block-weight earrings and dangerous danglers have caused nearly irreparable damage to your lobes, and the place where your earring hole once was, is now an unsightly slit. It happens to the best of us, and fear not, dear reader, you won't be relegated to clips-ons or - worse yet - earring-less ears anytime soon. Worst case scenario is that you consult with a cosmetic surgeon and get the damage repaired, but if you aren't quite there yet, here are some simple solutions.

Give your ears a break from heavy earrings and return to old-school posts. You can score an inexpensive pair of fake diamonds, pearls or colorful stones at any accessories store. Go for high-quality (i.e., 14K posts) rather than cheap metals, which often cause allergies, to keep your ears healthy. If this simple stud look doesn't gel with your idea of Saturday night chic, consider upping the ante on your necklace collection. When you don a cool, chunky necklace, there's no need for substantial earrings.

And for those who just can't get into small earrings, here's getsugar's solution: Check out the Zanzi earrings at http://www.femmegems.com/zanzi.html. In either gold or silver, these light-weight stunners add sparkle to every outfit. $89.