Earstretching.net

BACKSTORY: I've been at 9/16" for a little over a year and a half. Back in March, I flew back to school and forgot my plugs at my parents' house. I had another pair of spiral wooden plugs, so I just wore those everyday. However, when I came back home a few weeks ago, I suddenly found it hard to put my other pair of plugs in. I guess that even though I was wearing the spirals, they weren't being inserted until the biggest end and so my ears had shrunk a little.

Being the impatient idiot that I am, I went ahead and forced the dry plugs into my ears. One went in fine, but my right lobe was met with considerable pain. Continuing to be an idiot, I decided to just leave it in for two days and hope the pain would go away. However, when I finally took it out, the lobe was super bleedy and basically fucked up looking-- I couldn't discern if it was a tear or a mini blowout or what. Unfortunately, I no longer have any of my old smaller jewelry or tapers (mom threw them away or something) so I left the earlobe naked and started doing sea salt soaks etc. so that it would heal.

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It's been about two weeks now and my lobe is all smooth and no longer crusty or bleedy. However, it has also shrunk CONSIDERABLY. I want to say that it's only 6g or 4g now, so like six sizes smaller. The skin around it is hard and thick, which I'm assuming is all scar tissue.

So I'm in a very frustrating spot right now. All I want is for my ear to get back to the size it was. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on breaking down scar tissue and stretching back up?

I already ordered lots of emu oil so I can start doing daily massages. I will also need to buy new tapers because I don't have any smaller ones. But at what size, and when, should I start? I know scar tissue is super difficult to stretch, but I'm also a little incredulous at the fact that enough of it would build up to make my ear six sizes smaller in only two weeks.

Anyway, any advice would be much appreciated! Moral of the story is, don't be rough and impatient with your ears, even when you've been wearing that jewelry forever...

obviously dont do what the dick above me said.

daily massages with emu oil and you should be good =) also, you need to find out what size you are at. get a couple of really cheap-y single plugs in various sizes that you think you might be at and when it gets difficult to slide the taper through, stop there and continue stretching. you need to definitely baby your ears and go extra slow.

i wish you the best of luck!

Reported.

And by "reported" I meant the guy calling you names and flipping out, not you GreyEyedMonster.

For breaking up scarring, a combination of massages and downsizing are the most effective thing. Now emu oil is totally awesome and my first recommendation, but the massages themselves are the most important thing. So if you left your oil at home while on vacation, then still massage daily with whatever's handy and skin safe, but you'll likely see a lot of added benefit with emu oil.

The downsizing is important too, and not just initially. Frequently downsizing, say you stretch up 2 sizes (not at once of course) and then downsize one size instead of stretching to the next size. You do this 'two forward, one back' method or a similar one, and your ears will not only have more time to recover from scarring, but they'll get plumper too. Even those with healthy piercings can benefit from downsizing once a year for a few months and restretching, because it builds up collagen and gives your weak spots time to strengthen.

So for now I'd try to wear 6g if that fits without falling out, and leave that in for like 4-6 months, give your piercings plenty of time to heal and get ready for stretching. The massaging should start as soon as it's not tender, and emu oil is ok for broken skin, but probably not great for a completely open wound, so let any real tears close. Go one size at a time, and let your ears tell you what they can take. Give them as much time as necessary between sizes, and maybe try teflon taping instead of using tapers. It's tricky to do at small sizes, but much gentler and easier on your ears.

BTW...I would never tell anyone to use their own spit as lubricant, because that's not really sanitary and I wouldn't want to be liable for any problems that caused someone. However, they are times in one's life where spit as lubrication might be better than no lube at all, if you want some general life advice.

Thanks for the responses!

I didn't know about downsizing as a method for strengthening lobes, I will definitely try that.

Turns out my lobe is in between 2g and 0g. And I was actually at 1/2" before, not 9/16" (gee it's hard to keep track of these things...) so I only have about four sizes to stretch back up. For now I'm just vigorously massaging with emu and vitamin e oil and then I can start stretching slowly.