The actress was stunning at the premiere of her new movie “Venuto Al Mondo”in Madrid. Along with her jewels she wore gold acupuncture beads in her ear. This led some to speculate what they might be for. 

Ear beads, more often called seeds, are a common practice in Chinese Medicine. Teeny tiny balls are stuck to the cartilage of the ear with skin colored tape in order to stimulate selected acupuncture points. Ear seeds are often used to reduce cravings from addictions and for many other conditions such as chronic pain, depression, digestive problems or insomnia. 

Ms. Cruz is not the first celebrity to be spotted with ear seeds, in 2008 Matt Damon was photographed with seeds as well. His rep stated that: “Matt had a terrible spasm in his neck/back and he had to have acupuncture Those are acupuncture “needles’ in his ear.”

We don’t know why Penelope was wearing acupuncture seeds, but she is a smoker, so maybe she’s trying to quit. What do you think?