help? light pinkish inside lobes?

[starpowerrrr]

hello! i am new to stretching. unfortunatly i do believe i did it wrong and didn't wait enough during stretches. but my ears seem fine. i waited probably only 3-4 weeks between each stretch. and only had a slight bleed once, but not when stretching. i think i was at a 12g then and when i took them out after days of stretching it bled a bit, but no pain. i continued to stretch anyway with no pain at any guage. i have been doing sea salt soaks and washing them with antibacterial soap twice a day. i am thinking of possibly going to a 2g but i want to make sure they are fully healed first. my question is they are a little pink in the inside of the lobe, is this normal during healing? is there anything i can do to fix this if its not normal? they don't hurt at all though and seem to be fine otherwise. if i do go to a 2g i am going to wait till mid november since i stretched them early october, would that be about right? i just want to do this the right way now so i don't mess up my ears and i am fretting because i am not sure if the pink is normal. thanks guys!

[corazon_de_oro]

You did go too fast. Bleeding is a sign that you tore your lobes, and the pink you're seeing is probably scar tissue. If I were you I would at LEAST wait about three more months before your next stretch, just to give them time to relax and heal.

Also, you really don't need sea salt soaks AND antibacterial soap. That can really dry out your lobes. Sea salt soaks are the only aftercare you really need, or you can just leave them alone and take your plugs out to clean them every day. If you're going to do soaks, it's very important that they're not too salty (no more than 1/4 teaspoon per one cup water).

When your ears are nice and healed, you should start doing oil massages. Get some vitamin E oil, jojoba oil, or emu oil and massage it into your lobes (without jewelry) for a few minutes every day after a hot shower. It's really important to wait until your ears are healed because the rubbing can irritate them if they're not healed.

[starpowerrrr]

You did go too fast. Bleeding is a sign that you tore your lobes, and the pink you're seeing is probably scar tissue. If I were you I would at LEAST wait about three more months before your next stretch, just to give them time to relax and heal.

Also, you really don't need sea salt soaks AND antibacterial soap. That can really dry out your lobes. Sea salt soaks are the only aftercare you really need, or you can just leave them alone and take your plugs out to clean them every day. If you're going to do soaks, it's very important that they're not too salty (no more than 1/4 teaspoon per one cup water).

When your ears are nice and healed, you should start doing oil massages. Get some vitamin E oil, jojoba oil, or emu oil and massage it into your lobes (without jewelry) for a few minutes every day after a hot shower. It's really important to wait until your ears are healed because the rubbing can irritate them if they're not healed.

yeah, i figured that i did go too quickly. will this affect when i take them out to heal permanantly in a few years? because i obviously don't want my gauges forever. what does scar tissue look like? because to me my ears just look really pissed off and irritated rather than scarred. lol. i can take a picture if that would help. i think i might be doing too much salt as well, i am going to have to measure from now on, and i will stop using the soap asap and get some vitamin e oil asap. thank you! also is epsom salt ok or do u actually need sea salt? because i have been using epsom salt, i don't know if that's different.

[corazon_de_oro]

There's actually no guarantee that your ears will close up no matter what size you stretch to. But yeah, stretching slowly and carefully will make them more likely to shrink.

Scar tissue will make your lobes look wrinkled, and if it's really bad they'll be pink/reddish. It could even be a combination of both.

Definitely use sea salt; it's the best thing to use because it has no additives. I've never used epsom salt for anything so I don't know a lot about what's in it/what exactly it's used for but pure sea salt is definitely a better choice. You can get it at any grocery store for around $2.

[starpowerrrr]

There's actually no guarantee that your ears will close up no matter what size you stretch to. But yeah, stretching slowly and carefully will make them more likely to shrink.

Scar tissue will make your lobes look wrinkled, and if it's really bad they'll be pink/reddish. It could even be a combination of both.

Definitely use sea salt; it's the best thing to use because it has no additives. I've never used epsom salt for anything so I don't know a lot about what's in it/what exactly it's used for but pure sea salt is definitely a better choice. You can get it at any grocery store for around $2.

mine are perfect circles when i take them out but then they start to close after a while and look a little wrinkled, is that normal? does scar tissue ever go away?
i am going to get sea salt tomorrow. thanks so much for your advice.

[ast.riske]

Scar tissue can reduce over time. Doing vitamin e oil massages can help quite a bit as it encourages blood flow to the area.

As far as not wanting your ears stretched forever, I would advise you to stop now. stretched piercings should be considered a permanent modification as there is no guarantee the holes will shrink or close ever. This is a really important thing to consider. If you can't live with it for the rest of your life, is it something you really REALLY want?

Good luck in whichever direction you decide to go. : )

[starpowerrrr]

i'm going to just stay at a 4g. i just want the scar tissue to minimize.

[guitarkidv1]

As far as I know the actual holes in your lobe are supposed to be a lightish pink on the inside, but definately not your actual lobe.

I'm unstretching my ears now from 8mm. I was at 8mm for about a month but I have been stretching my ears for about 9 months now. I have had my plugs out today and yesterday and they have gone down to 6mm, although they are still quite fat. I'm just hoping they will heal ok. I have heard of people's ears shrinking but ending up with a red, inflamed looking piercing. Like a red line.

[ViolentJayne]

all I can say about shrinkage are these two stories .. one good friend of mine had her ears to 00 for almost 10 years a few months ago they got irritated for some unknown reason and she took them out after almost 2 weeks ( when they were feeling better)she could still wear a 2 ga ( not alot of shrink , but some )... now on the other hand a guy I know had his to 00 for a few months when trying to go to the next size suffered a blow out and decided to give up stretching entirely ... after about 3 days his ears were 18 ga . ( which is what he currently stays at )so alot of shrink for him

so it can go either way and depends on the person the the length of time the ears have been stretched

I agree with what others have said about if you dont want it in the future then dont do it cause you never know what shrunk for someone might not shrink for you