What do I do?

[deviantxy]

I stretched my ears yesterday with well lubed stainless steel tapers form 18g to 14g and immediately put in some SF stainless plugs. In my left ear the 14g plug kept slipping though my hear on the flared end. It didn't hurt at all so I used a taper again to go up to 12g. No pain but I did feel a stretch. Well this morning I woke up to find my left ear bleeding, swollen and hurting like a mofo.

Somehow the flared end was lodged in the center of my lobe just cutting in and ripping it. So I put the 14g back in but its still slipping out and the 12g is now tight from the swelling. Should I just leave the 14g in and try to keep it from slipping and ripping at my ear more or put the 12g back in even though its tight? I don't have any different plugs and I know that would probably solve my situation.... I'm cleaning it with sea salt water three times a day so I have that under control just don't know what to do about the plugs slipping.

[marcwinters]

I think you should keep the 14g in and try your best to keep it from falling out. Keep up the seasalt rinsing, and wait a few weeks for the hole to heal and you can get right back to stretching! Try not to skip a size next time. It might not hurt at first, but you'll regret it in the future, I'm sure.

[KAISERROLLS]

Leave the 14g in or just go all the way back to 18, if that 14 is such an easy stretch for you (it wasn't for me). Is it a SF plug with an O-ring? IF yes this has happened to me I go to bed and wake up and the flare is in the center of my ear, I think this is the same thing you have. Its because your O-rings are too tight and dont allow enough movement of the plug try to push them as far back on the plus as possible when you go to bed and it wont happen. But because its ripped and bleeding, dont stretch it downsize and clean it multiple times a day for 2-4 weeks.

[deviantxy]

Thank for the advice. I'm going to stay at 14g until it heals. I'm definitely not going to skip any more sizes and am not even going to touch my left ear with a taper for at least another three weeks if not five. I truly don't think the stretch to 12g caused this in my ear as it felt perfectly good before I went to bed just the stupid flared edge deciding to lodge itself in my ear and wreck havoc caused me pain. Yes it was a SF with the O-Ring on one end I bought a set like these. I think what I am going to try tonight is take the O-Ring off and put medical tape on both ends so it can't slip out to give it more breathing room to heal. I have the O-Ring on the very end but I have fat lobes so I figure this might work better.

[KAISERROLLS]

Good thing to try, you can also order plugs and tunnels with longer wearing areas from almost anywhere that sells them online. glasswearstudios.com has the most customizable ones. Just keep an eye on it, its the plug doing it not the stretch.

[deviantxy]

My ear is much better today. No more oozyness or crust and its not really painful just a bit sore. The swelling has gone away too. Thanks to the tape I had no slipping around last night either. So I think I'm on the road to a good heal. That link has some great looking jewelery but it says you can't order anything unless your a company? I'll keep an eye out for longer ones though.

[mouse2cat]

It sounds like to me that you are irritating your ears by taking them in and out of a fresh stretch. When you have a fresh stretch you need to leave your ears entirely alone for a few days. Don't twist them, don't touch them, don't take them out. Let some healing take place!

I would downsize, and wear regular earrings until everything is healed up. And then try stretching again. Slowly. I am a big fan of glass colorfronts. They are hypoallergenic and rather cute.

Also see if you can find some 16G earrings. They can be a little harder to find but worth it. If you had your ears pierced as a kid you may have been pierced at 20G and in that case your 14G taper was skipping 2 sizes. Same thing happened to me. And you need some extra healing time for that unfortunate jump.