Even the tiniest gauge (18 gauge, the size of "standard" earrings) can go years, or forever, without closing, if you've worn them for long enough. And even a large gauge piercing could heal up quickly if you took it out without wearing it for that long.
You're asking about ears, but, for what it's worth... OTHER body parts will certainly heal up (eye-brow, for example, because it's a surface piercing and there's no way it would stay open for long; and a tongue can close up in an hour, no matter how long you've had it). Ear-lobe holes last pretty long though, if not forever, even if they were thin gauge.
20g. But that's a regular ear piercing size. So you'll move up to 18g.
Well 18g and 16g are neighbours in the gauge world, 14g is the next largest gauge from 16g so you would just be stretching the piercing up to 14g. All stretching should be done with proper tapers and ultimately done by a professional body piercer to ensure the piercing isn't torn in the process.
The standard gauge for most ear piercings, such as earlobes, is typically 20 gauge. However, cartilage piercings may be done at a slightly larger gauge, often 18 or 16 gauge. It's important to consult with a professional piercer to determine the most suitable gauge for your specific piercing.
If the piercing is a new piercing, you need to wait until the original piercing is healed before you get into stretching. Stretching involves starting with a seasoned and healed piercing and working up one gauge at a time once every 30 days until you reach the gauge you want. Going faster than one gauge every 30 days or skipping over a gauge will result in permanent tissue damage and piercings that won't return to normal if the wearer chooses to revert the piercings.
Well the phrase "gauge" refers to the AWG "American Wire Gauge" which also applies to needle sizes used in medical and body piercing applications. They range from the smallest body piercing gauge of 18g all the way up to the largest being 00g. Now if you are in the US the sizes will be in "gauge" dimensions or in fractions of an inch. In Europe and the UK the sizes are in "gauge" dimensions or international scientific format which is millimeters. So when you are asking about ear gauges you are talking about nothing, there are no "ear gauges" this is a screw up with language and someone was too lazy to call them by the right name and has slurred the phrase "gauge" to mean a specific type of jewellery, which doesn't exist. The items for stretched ears would be tunnels, plugs, crescents or expanded ear lobe jewellery. The phrase "gauging" was misused to mean "stretching" ones ear lobes up a "gauge" larger than they currently have.
You can sleep with your cartilage piercing out after the ear is completely healed up. It takes about two months for the ear to completely heal.
No such thing as gauge piercings. You either stretch your piercing, or get them punched. With a punch, a chuck of your ear is removed with a tool that acts as a cookie cutter basically. Stretching takes longer but you'll have a better chance of them shrinking up smaller. You can get your ears punched at almost any piercing shop. Just call in ahead of time.
Ear Gauges is a misused term and it actually means nothing. The term is used to refer to the process of "stretching" ear lobe piercings to larger sizes (bigger holes and bigger jewellery* {*refered to as plugs }). To do this jewellery of larger size is put into the piercing slowly to stretch the piercings up to a larger size. The term "Ear Gauges" was derived from two words "Ear" and "Gauge", I think you know what Ear means so we will move on the the "Gauge" part. Gauge is the actual size of the jewellery, measured using the American Wire Gauge as a standard or AWG. The smaller the number the bigger the diameter of the jewellery, this measurement is also used to denote the size of the needles used in medicine and body piercing. A standard starting size for ear lobe piercing would be "16g" or "14g" ( the "g" denotes the phrase "gauge" ). Stretching the piercing up one "gauge" at a time with a 4 week break between the stretches to avoid damaging the tissue. The difference between the guages being less than 10% this prevents the piercing from tearing when done correctly (skin only stretches 10% before it starts to tear and tissue damage is the result). Trying to stretch the piercing fast (not waiting the 4 weeks between stretching) will result in damaged tissue and messy piercings. The largest size one can work up to without perminant damage is "0g" and or rare occasions "00". If the stretch is done correctly, one can remove or reverse the stretching by working down the gauges back to the smaller diameters without perminant damage. AWG / Metric Sizes 18g/1.0mm, 16g/1.2mm, 14g/1.6mm, 12g/2.0mm, 10g/2.4mm, 8g/3.2mm, 6g/4.0mm, 2g/7.0mm, 0g/8mm Standard sizes for body piercing are 18g, 16g, 14g, 12g larger gauges are some times used but these are the most common sizes used on a daily basis.
It can vary from person to person, but generally, it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for an ear piercing to fully close up. Keeping an earring in the piercing regularly can help prevent it from closing up quickly.
5.0 mm or 4 Guage
As you progress in your piercings from the lobe up the ear I would recommend getting the second and consecutive holes done by needle piercing in the hands of a professional body piercer. See inside the lobe moving up the ear there is a fine feather line of cartilage which gets thicker and denser as you progress up the ear, at some point you will need to start over gauge piercing to ensure the piercings will heal correctly without discomfort from the cartilage inside the tissue.
It depends on how long you had the original piercing, how big or what gauge the piercing happens to be, and the state of your over all health. If you are in good shape and the piercing is fairly new then things should heal up in about 6 to eight weeks if the jewellery is removed soon enough. If you are doing this because the original piercings were "botched". The might I recommend you see a Professional Body Piercer instead of the individuals at the mall who generally don't know or care about what they are doing. Your will get better results without having to get them repierced over again a.k.a. Getting it done right the first time.