A Couple of Issues to Address.

[liplockshock]

#1: My right lobe has what I think might be cat-butt. It's not a perfect circle when I take my
jewelry out. Now I'm at a 2G with my right, it's my slutty lobe, and I've never torn or had any issues with the lobe or stretching it, my left is the bitchy one. Now when I first got my ears pierced when I was little, I remember getting a couple of infections with my ears (from being sensitive with cheap metal jewelry)
I'm wondering how to get rid of it if it is cat-butt. The hole gets really small when I take out my jewelry and I can't see all the way through unless I stretch it out with my fingers. I'm also wondering if the piercing maybe crooked?
#2: I know for a fact this isn't a blowout. Let's clear that up now, I waited 3 months to upsize. I had to upsize because the flares were actually sinking through my ears and falling out. I noticed slight irritation in my left lobe (slight aching, itching, stinging when taking out my jewelry) Two days ago I took my expanders out and I had blood. I downsized right away and I'm babying the hell out of it. Now I'm wondering what happened, is it possible my lobe got chapped? It's winter here and being in the middle of midterms I was busy studying any spare moment I had and therefore no time for oiling. My skin is prone to cracks and chapping, but I'm wondering if it's easier in stretched lobes.

[ast.riske]

Hey Morgana.

So, your first concern. I'd have to see photos, but it doesn't have to be catbutt just because the fistula relaxes to a small size. Mine relax down to a very small size as well probably about a 10g look. They are slightly rippled when relaxed, but only if I stretch my lobe out to see the hole. Otherwise it just looks like an indentation in my lobe. If you aren't seeing any kind of ugly puckering when you pull your jewelry out, I'd argue you're doing alright.

As far as the bleeding, I have heard of people having issues in cold weather with stretched ears. Generally I would say, from what I've heard, that stretching when it's cold and dry is a bad idea. That aside, it sounds like your ears just need some tlc and moisture. If you are having cracking, and your lobes are fully healed from their last stretch you may want to go naked at night and moisturize to encourage healing. Leaving your lobes naked at night relieves pressure on the skin, allowing it to get better blood flow and heal. Midterms are bad for student health, I swear it! ; )

A side note: bleeding and blowouts don't necessarily go hand in hand you can have one without the other.

[TheGreyEyedMonster]

everything that ast.riske said, and i'd add that you shouldn't try to stretch back up until it gets warmer. winter sucks for the ears

[liplockshock]

Hey Morgana.

So, your first concern. I'd have to see photos, but it doesn't have to be catbutt just because the fistula relaxes to a small size. Mine relax down to a very small size as well probably about a 10g look. They are slightly rippled when relaxed, but only if I stretch my lobe out to see the hole. Otherwise it just looks like an indentation in my lobe. If you aren't seeing any kind of ugly puckering when you pull your jewelry out, I'd argue you're doing alright.

As far as the bleeding, I have heard of people having issues in cold weather with stretched ears. Generally I would say, from what I've heard, that stretching when it's cold and dry is a bad idea. That aside, it sounds like your ears just need some tlc and moisture. If you are having cracking, and your lobes are fully healed from their last stretch you may want to go naked at night and moisturize to encourage healing. Leaving your lobes naked at night relieves pressure on the skin, allowing it to get better blood flow and heal. Midterms are bad for student health, I swear it! ; )

A side note: bleeding and blowouts don't necessarily go hand in hand you can have one without the other.

Thank you so much for your responses

Alrighty! Then maybe that's what's going on. There's no puckering, I just thought that as soon as I took out my jewelry that it should've been a nice little circle. Glad to hear that this is not a freaky thing

Okay, that's pretty much what I thought might've been the cause. I noticed some light flaking of skin on my lobes a couple of weeks back, but didn't think too much of it. Now I'm realizing how stupid that was The bleeding has stopped, we had a cold snap yesterday so it tried to bleed again. I noticed spotting on my cotton ball, so I did a salt soak and slathered the bitch with polysporin, now it's just crusty. Maybe from now on a little bit of chapstick will do the trick jkjk but I'll for sure never slip up on my oiling again, this is just too painful.
Midterms are really bad for student health! Not only am I battling this tear but I've got a cold it's terrible!

[ViolentJayne]

I know you were j/k but they actually do make vit E in a stick form right next to the vit e iol in the pharmacy department of wal mart etc...I keep a stick in my purse in case Im out and My ears feel dry especially when I wear horn jewelry its like they suck the moister out of em lol

[liplockshock]

It happened again!!!!
However I found a really good cure for anyone else interested!
We recently went through a cold snap, it was below -30C for a week, and my skin became chapped. My knuckles and my lips were cracked, and despite my best efforts with my ears and my vit e oil my ears became chapped and started to crack as well.
I had a jar of carmex for my lips which ended up curing them in two days, so I figured why not and put some on my lobes after mixing it with my oil.
By the end of the day the cracks were healing and the skin stopped flaking. The menthol additives made them tingle a bit, other than that it was fine. Just make sure your keeping them clean because it is a petroleum based product. Vaseline can trap bacteria.
Also used some polysporin to help speed the healing process