stretching ears

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Sunday November 4th, 2007 @ 4:53 PM

Filed under: Ear

I have gone from a 10 gauge to 9/16 in about 6 weeks time professionally by someone who has been in the buisness for over 15 years so i do trust him. I actually had my ears cut and stretched from a 10 to a 0 and then to separate stretches to get to where i am now at 9/16 with no problems. I plan on going to 5/8 and sticking with that.

He told me i only have to wait a week or 2 befor coming in again to stretch to 5/8. I need a second opinion.

And i’ve noticed my lobes seem to be swelled. There’s no pain or discomfort at all and the holes are very clean i’ve just noticed they’re a little swollen is this normal since it’s only been a few days since my last stretch? or is there a problem? and if i have or get a blowout is it painful?

There are some piercers who utilize a “rapid stretch” method. Regardless of all the philosophical arguments (i.e, it’s not a race, patience is part of the reward etc.), I think simple logic makes it fairly obvious it’s not the ideal way to go. While you “can” do stretching in this fashion, it doesn’t mean you should.

The main thing I’d be concerned about would thinning of the your lobes…most likely at the bottom. By not giving your body a chance to rebuild some of the skin cells lost in the stretching, you have a higher chance of the tissue becoming thin, which could result in poor circulation on the serious end of the spectrum and could result in unattractive/poorly-placed holes on the not-so-serious end of the spectrum.

As for whether you should wait for more than 2 weeks to stretch to 5/8″, I personally think so. But, considering you’ve gone from 10ga to 9/16″ in 6 weeks, does it really matter at this point? It’s probably a little late to be thinking about whether you’re stretching too quickly.

Best of luck.

Also…lots of people will probably post comments about how they stretched from (fill in the blank) to (fill in the blank) in some really short period of time. As I said….lots of things are possible…whether they are the best approach is a whole different topic.

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3 Responses to “stretching ears”

i stretched from 14g to about oo in something like a month and a half… and i regret it! i have total cats butt ears, i’ve been very lucky in that the only blowout i ever got reabsorbed, but when i think about how much worse it could have been…. i shudder, just a little. LISTEN when you’re told to go slowly! it is not a race, this can potentially be a permanent modification, so why rush it? you may have giant holes in your ears for the rest of your life, why have them looking crap for the sake of stretching quickly? i apologize for the rant, but i’m mighty passionate about this.

Kat on November 6th, 2007 at 1:07 am

God I despise the imperial vs. metric!
I had just normal ear studs for 3 years before i started to stretch. I was always as clean as possible and very careful (albeit somewhat impatient!!) I’m currently at 26mm and still going and its taken me 18 months to get to where I am now.
Now I know this was not the best way of going about stretching my ears and yes I did understand the repercussions of what I was doing. But in all fairness I have never had a single problem since I started, no blowouts, no soreness (except after immediately stretching) no pus or lymph and no swelling. And I think my ears look and feel healthy. I just used the simple dead stretching method, using high quality “flesh tunnels”. Turned out to work very well as the weight of the metal on the lobe helped with the stretching process over a period of time. Thus when i went to put the next size in it just took a matter of seconds and was never painful in the slightest
I’m not suggesting for one second that anyone should do it that quickly, meerly pointing out that on rare occasions it does work. maybe i’m just very stretchy
Keep up the good work BME

Zed on September 14th, 2008 at 5:33 am

ok, for a start, i myself have torn my ears and it is not pretty, all the bleeding and bruising are really discomforting. so i should begin by telling all of you not to go fast on the stretching and especially, DO NOT SKIP SIZES. it is the stupidest thing to do because your lobes do not create a stable and healthy fistula that can withstand further stretching. in africa, a tribe that practices this or started this, the people that stretch their ears do this according to what they learn from their elders and the knowledge they attain through time. So they stretch their ears slowly and through time, they do not race to have the biggest ears because bleeding, cut, or scarred lobes mean that he or she is trying to pass a smarter individual and their are reffered to as the village idiots. so just take it slow, one size at a time and the bigger the gauge is, the longer the wait should be. im at a half inch and i have currently been waiting for my lobes to grow and get ready for the next stretch.

pablo on February 1st, 2009 at 2:05 pm

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i stretched from 14g to about oo in something like a month and a half… and i regret it! i have total cats butt ears, i’ve been very lucky in that the only blowout i ever got reabsorbed, but when i think about how much worse it could have been…. i shudder, just a little. LISTEN when you’re told to go slowly! it is not a race, this can potentially be a permanent modification, so why rush it? you may have giant holes in your ears for the rest of your life, why have them looking crap for the sake of stretching quickly? i apologize for the rant, but i’m mighty passionate about this.
Kat on November 6th, 2007 at 1:07 am
God I despise the imperial vs. metric!
I had just normal ear studs for 3 years before i started to stretch. I was always as clean as possible and very careful (albeit somewhat impatient!!) I’m currently at 26mm and still going and its taken me 18 months to get to where I am now.
Now I know this was not the best way of going about stretching my ears and yes I did understand the repercussions of what I was doing. But in all fairness I have never had a single problem since I started, no blowouts, no soreness (except after immediately stretching) no pus or lymph and no swelling. And I think my ears look and feel healthy. I just used the simple dead stretching method, using high quality “flesh tunnels”. Turned out to work very well as the weight of the metal on the lobe helped with the stretching process over a period of time. Thus when i went to put the next size in it just took a matter of seconds and was never painful in the slightest
I’m not suggesting for one second that anyone should do it that quickly, meerly pointing out that on rare occasions it does work. maybe i’m just very stretchy
Keep up the good work BME
Zed on September 14th, 2008 at 5:33 am
ok, for a start, i myself have torn my ears and it is not pretty, all the bleeding and bruising are really discomforting. so i should begin by telling all of you not to go fast on the stretching and especially, DO NOT SKIP SIZES. it is the stupidest thing to do because your lobes do not create a stable and healthy fistula that can withstand further stretching. in africa, a tribe that practices this or started this, the people that stretch their ears do this according to what they learn from their elders and the knowledge they attain through time. So they stretch their ears slowly and through time, they do not race to have the biggest ears because bleeding, cut, or scarred lobes mean that he or she is trying to pass a smarter individual and their are reffered to as the village idiots. so just take it slow, one size at a time and the bigger the gauge is, the longer the wait should be. im at a half inch and i have currently been waiting for my lobes to grow and get ready for the next stretch.
pablo on February 1st, 2009 at 2:05 pm

stretching ears

«« stretching problem…. emla cream »»

Sunday November 4th, 2007 @ 4:53 PM

Filed under: Ear

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