8 g to 6 g, swelling issues

[chesh]

Hi! Newb to the board, been stretching my ears since early 2011, still pretty ignorant, apparently.

The story:
This last stretch went poorly for me (done by a professional 4 days ago with a stainless taper) - I thought I was ready but wasn't. My left earlobe is swollen and oozing a lot of lymph/pus. It's not infected (not red, not hard, not stinky, not very painful), but it's probably twice as thick as it was before. I took the piercing out briefly with sanitized hands to see if their was something foreign on the plug (Pyrex) that was irritating my ear - just lots of goop and a tiny bit of dried blood. The piercing itself isn't "tight" around the plug, but things look a bit gnarly (pinker than I'd like and goopy).

Weirdly enough, my right ear hurt worse during the stretch and was actually oozing blood the day after the stretch (I bumped it talking on my phone), but it's now normal sized and less sore than the swollen ear.

Question:
Do I need to downsize or take my jewelry out, or do I have a good chance of this healing up with regular salt soaks and gentle cleaning?
Also, am I panicking or is this genuine cause for concern?

What I know already:
-I'm going to wait way longer next time. I was planning on going to 2 or 4 g, but I will not be sizing up until sometime in 2012 at the earliest (maybe I'll ask for 4 g jewelery for my birthday in March). 'Cause ow and ew.
-I'm soaking twice a day and keeping my hands (and my boyfriend's hands and mouth) away from my earlobes. Again, ow and ew.

[TheGreyEyedMonster]

I would say downsize a size or two and stay there for a month or so. Get some nice quality stainless steel or glass plugs if you dont already have them.

Besides soaking them twice a day leave them alone until they look and feel a lot better. than you can feel free to wash with regular soap and water and do oil massages if you would like

I think you're doing right so far! good luck!

[ast.riske]

Although professionals definitely know what they are doing, they can't listen to your body as they are stretching your piercings. I think you might have more success if you do your stretches yourself. Stretching your piercings is a very personal experience. Your journey will likely be more meaningful to you and you may have fewer hiccups if you stretch yourself. : )

[rn139]

sounds like your lobes were torn even though you may not be able to see the tears. any time you see blood, or oozing, there is open skin. this should never happen. definitely downsize, do your sea salt soaks and message with johoba or vit E oil. you do not want scar tissue to develop by maintaining the stress on the broken tissue. I currently have 2G ears, but I had to start the taping method early (at 8G) to go up sizes. slow process, but well worth the wait. good luck to you. I agree, you may want to do your own stretches so can avoid being too forceful.