Stretching a dermal-punched helix: yay or nay?

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Monday July 21st, 2008 @ 4:50 PM

Filed under: Piercing

I have a 2 ga. helix punch, it’s all healed from being pierced this past november. There are some beautiful dichoric plugs on glasswearstudios.com, but they start at 0 ga. and I’m wondering how traumatized my ear would be if I got the 0’s. Is stretching a dermal punch a bad idea (will it cause damage, excessive scarring, or blow outs?) Would my ear still freak out if I just wore it for a short period of time, like a day or vs. for a couple months? If you don’t recommend this plan, could you guide me towards other websites or stores in D.C./NYC areas that have as many foil style options for smaller gauges?

It is quite possible to stretch cartilage piercings. I’ve met people over the years that have stretched various cartilage piercings from standard earring size to 0ga, or even bigger. So, in theory, you should be able to stretch your piercing without much issue.

The stretching shouldn’t cause “damage, excessive scarring, or blow outs”, assume that you take some care when doing it. If the jewelry is very resistant to going in, don’t force it too much. If you force it too much, you will tear the piercing, and potential crush the cartilage, making it very likely all of your aforementioned concerns will come true.

If you are considering ordering jewelry anyway, you may want to contact the company and see if they can make you a 1ga plug/eyelet. Glass companies are typically very good about doing in-between-sized jewelry. When it comes to cartilage, the in-between sizes can make stretching much easier.

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