Someone help my poor, poor ears! pleeeeease.

[FTFD]

Man, seriously. Basically I have been stretching for a while now. I'm currently at 18mm and have been for a year, give or take. My ears flake all the time, my skin is always flaking off, they have never really been a problem until recently. They are starting to become sore and when I take my plugs out, my lobes ache. They don't itch or anything along those lines but this has been going on for a while now and its becoming rather tedious. I have silicone plugs in, I'm pretty certain its not the plugs as I've experimented with steel and such and still the outcome is the same as it was. I massage my ears daily with bio-oil and other things such as Oilatum. I do sleep with them in but for the love of god can someone solve this. Perhaps I should try something else, like glass plugs? Hell knows.

[corazon_de_oro]

How fast did you stretch? If you rushed your ears could still be trying to recover from that. Also, have you been out in the sun? I remember when I first got my ears pierced at 10G; they were healed and then I was in the sun a lot one week and they got super crusty, itchy, and gross.

If I were you I would definitely get some glass plugs; they're great for sensitive ears. Silicone can really dry your ears out which could be what's causing the flaking. You definitely don't want to have silicone as your long-term jewelry. You could also try sleeping without plugs and even going down a size or two to give your ears some relief.

[FTFD]

I didn't size up too fast, I am careful when it comes to stretching and have made sure that my ears are ready before sizing up. Maybe so but surely if it was the plugs then why didn't anything improve when I switched to steel? I really do not want to down-size at all, that'll just be even more of an annoyance. So you think the best bet would be to get some glass plugs? I am scared to leave them out at night, I get worried they will shrivel up and that'd be the worst.. my ears are my pride haha. And nope, no sun.. Sadly!

[ViolentJayne]

I agree the silicone plugs suck the moisture out of My ears . If I wear them even overnight My ears are dry and I have to use alot of oil to get them out .. how long did you switch to the steel ? maybe you just didnt wear them long enough .. it usually takes a few days for dry skin to repair itself .. id do an experiment and try glass or steal plugs for at least 2 weeks and see if that helps any

[corazon_de_oro]

^ Agreed, also you might have sensitive skin and react to the nickel in steel. Even o-rings on plugs can irritate your ears so make sure they're not on too tight. Clear ones are usually better for your ears than black ones.
I definitely think you should try some glass plugs. I've always found them to be the best for healing.