Thursday December 6th, 2007 @ 2:50 PM
Filed under: Ear
Do you reccoment silicone stretching to go up a size. i.e. 9/16 to 5/8?
I personally do not recommend using silicone for stretching.
Having said that…I know many people have used silicone very successfully for stretching; sometimes even stretching several sizes.
However, I have personally witnessed (although not on myself) a number of bad experiences when silicone has been used for stretching. In most cases, there were several things done wrong when using the silicone to stretch. I do believe that the extent of the “damage” that occurred was due to some of the properties of the silicone jewelry and the effects wouldn’t have been as bad if other materials were used.
Some people have reported having problems with silicone jewelry even when they aren’t stretching. I think it’s important to mention also that the problems people typically experience seem to be related to the surface “tackiness” of the material, and rarely seem to be a reaction to the material itself.
Now, having said THAT…I personally wear silicone on a regular basis. I find it to be incredibly comfortable and I have experienced absolutely no problems with it.
+2 / 2 votes 
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 3 Comments
Thursday December 6th, 2007 @ 2:46 PM
Filed under: Ear
I’ve been at 7/16th’s for a good couple of months now and been wearing the same horn plug and cleaning it regularly. My ear was quite loose and could slip a 1/2″ plug in. Well, this morning i woke up and something was quite different, i felt of my earlobe and it was stiff and felt different.
Just my left earlobe was swollen and stiff and not loose at all! I took the plug out and the fistula was so small and puffy, when its usually nice and roound and a bigger hole, and my earlobe had swollen up so much! I didn’t have a blowout or a tear, i didn’t even stretch my ear! What is wrong with my earlobe?
These sorts of “flare ups” are not unheard of with stretched lobes. I know that I have experienced a few of them over the years…everything seems fine, and then seemingly for new reason…one ear freaks out. If you didn’t change the material of the jewelry you’ve been wearing, most likely it’s some sort of mechanical irritation: you slept on it funny or pinched the tissue with your jewelry, or something like that. It’s also possible you get something into the hole which irritated it and causes it to freak out.
Most of the time, leaving jewelry out of the piercing for a few days, so things have a chance to relax and settle down is the best option. You might lose a size or two, but stretching back up is typically very easy, especially if you’ve been at one size for a long time.
0 / 0 votes 
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Wednesday November 21st, 2007 @ 11:24 PM
Filed under: Ear
I’ve been wondering for a while…how thin is too thin when it comes to tissue around a stretched lobe? (I’m talking about in well healed, slowly stretched piercings.) I know everyone is different but at what point would most professionals say, “hey, you might want to…”?
This is sort of a two part question. Second, what should a person do if they have stretched lobes, to say 0 or 00ga, but because the piercings were origionally done too low they can no longer stretch? The holes won’t close completely and after trying resting, downsizing, and massage there just isn’t any increase in the tissue. If closure is the only option, what exactly should a person be looking for a plastic surgeon to do to guarentee that they can have thier lobes re-pierced and stretched to the size they want in the future?
Thanks and I hope you can understand my questions!
This problem often occurs because not every piercer asks the client if they are planning on stretching their piercings.
One option is visiting a qualified body modification practitioner and have your lobes re-directed via scalpel. My lobe piercings were not even when I went to go to 1/2″ so my practitioner opted to re-direct the lobe piercings subtly. Now this won’t stop the lower portion of your lobes from being potentially as thin as they are, but it can help get to a size you want to be at.
If you are going through the plastic surgeon they are essentially going to close the hole’s up. Which depending on their procedure techniques usually is a matter of removing a piece of the lower portion of the stretched lobe and suturing it up. If you search ModBlog and BMEZine there’s various photo’s showing lobe reconstructions via Plastic Surgeons.
If you opt to go that route personally I’d suggest you’ll want to make sure you wait a good while, like a year or more, before re-piercing and attempting to stretch.
As for when I feel like I should point out on customers about their lobes thinning, is when the bottom portion of the lobes are very thin and not a good healthy thickness to them, especially when the thickness of the lobes is not uniformed and consistent.
Often I see stretched lobes that are thinning along the inner portion of the lobe that pushes up against the persons face, due to it being pierced too close to the face. Or it’s directly in the center point of the lower lobe because the piercings were done too low.
+3 / 3 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | 2 Comments
Wednesday November 21st, 2007 @ 11:18 PM
Filed under: Ear
Hey my name is Max from Las Vegas, NV and I have a fairly large vein in the middle of my earlobe and I want to pierce my ears and eventually stretch them. Will this be a problem?
Hey Max!
So many jokes to be made about big veins, etc but I’ll just cut to the chase.
The best option is to visit an experienced qualified body piercer and bring up the situation with them. If they quickly brush you off and say you’ll be fine, without even analyzing the area, then perhaps you should find another shop that will take your statements serious.
Usually this will mean the piercer will inspect your ears and usually will take a flashlight/penlight to place it behind the to be pierced area. That way they can see any and all blood vessels/veins that are passing through the area, that way they can try their best to miss said veins, in order to reduce blood loss,etc.
As for stretching the piercings, again I’d say have the piercer look at it and depending on placement required will provide more knowledge into the matter.
+1 / 1 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments
Friday November 16th, 2007 @ 5:41 PM
Filed under: Ear
I have my ears stretched currently at 5/8ths. I’ve had them at that size appx. a year, and I’ve never had a problem with them. Sometimes, I feel like I wish I had stretched bigger, but it would be a waste to do it since I’ve spent over $400 in plugs and jewelry (yeah, I love my ears). So the question is, could I stretch them to about 1 1/4′ and have them shrink back down to 5/8ths? Is that feasible? It would be just temporary, and mostly to fulfill that dream of having bigger plugs.
The answer to your questions is: Maybe.
Unfortunately, there is no way to know for sure. It’s not unreasonable that they could shrink down to 5/8″ from 1-1/4″, but it’s by no means a for-sure thing. If you decide to stretch that large, you need to be VERY comfortable with the possibility they won’t shrink that small…or be okay with the idea of having them made smaller surgically.
The natural elasticity of your skin, the methods you use for stretching and how healthy your ears remain as you stretch bigger are all factors that will influence how much you would shrink.
+1 / 1 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 2 Comments
Thursday November 15th, 2007 @ 2:06 PM
Filed under: Ear
I’ve been at a 5/8 of a inch for almost three or four years now. My goal is 3/4 i have 11/16 that i’m been trying to get in for over a year now. i’ve mainly had stone/metal/wood plugs in my ears but they don’t seem to be loosening up anymore. I’ve been rubbing e-oil on them, and i even asked a pro piercer. we told me the tape method. I’ve tried it and i put one layer on and the plugs wont fit back into my ears. Any advice would be great.
thanks guys
-mark
You may have simply reached the physical limits of how big you can stretch your ears using more traditional methods. Due to holes initially placed a little too low, and the fact that I have incredibly tight/non-stretchy skin overall, I ran in to this problem when I was at 00ga. After nearly 3 years, I could not stretch to 7/16″ without risk of tearing my ear pretty severely; even though I had a good amount of room on the bottom of my lobe.
If you want to go larger, you may need to consider having your lobes cut. If you are at 5/8″, and 3/4″ is your goal, it’s very likely this could be done using small “relief” cuts, so that no actual tissue would need to be removed. Without seeing your ears there is no way for me to say what the best way to do the cuts would be, obviously. So, if cutting is an option you want to explore, you should find a reputable, experienced piercer that you trust, and speak with them about your options.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 1 Comment
Thursday November 15th, 2007 @ 2:05 PM
Filed under: Ear
I have chicken pox 
and my right lobe is really angry because of it. (like itchy, red, a little painful) any sugestions for my poor ear? I’ve been puting jojoba oil on it and it hasn’t done much.
If you have chicken pox on your earlobe I would suggest using whatever treatments you are using for the rest of your body. Rubbing jojoba oil, or other oils for that matter, on your ear won’t likely help, as though oils likely have no properties to help ease the symptoms of chicken pox.
Good luck. And remember…don’t scratch!!!!
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Thursday November 15th, 2007 @ 1:55 PM
Filed under: Ear
I’ve been considering getting my helix piercing dermally punched out to anywhere from a 6 - 0 gauge. I had a question about the jewelry best suited for this sort of thing. I don’t really like O-rings, so I suppose that leaves me with either single or double flared plugs. I was wondering if it would be possible to put double flares in cartilage and be able to take them out without a hassle.
What other kinds of jewelry could you recommend?
Double flare plugs can be worn in cartilage piercings, although they can be pretty difficult to get in and out, given the flare. They are probably also not a great option to be used in an initial piercing, as getting them in will mean additional stretching. Also, double flare plugs are typically made shorter than single-flare plugs, because there doesn’t need to be room for an o-ring. If the plug is too short for the amount of swelling you experience, you will find yourself in an uncomfortable, and not-great-for-healing, situation.
If you really can’t stand the idea of o-rings, you might want to try and get pierced with a “flesh tunnel”. These are eyelets that look like double flared plugs, but one of the “flares” screws onto the hollow-tube part of the jewelry. Again, the length of the jewelry could be an issue. Also, finding a good-quality flesh tunnel can sometimes be challenging as well.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Thursday November 15th, 2007 @ 1:48 PM
Filed under: Ear
I recently got pierced in my ear twice for an industrial piercing. I noticed the two barbells are slightly of-axis, there is a slight difference in direction of the two piercings, I’ll say about 5 degrees.
How will this be a problem, when I insert the industrial barbell? Will this simply bend my ear and stay that way, or will the holes migrate a little by the tension?
Once they piercings are healed, it is possible that the slight difference in angles won’t affect the end product. However, it might. You may need to have the bar for the industrial custom-bent to accommodate the slight shift in angles of the piercing. Unfortunately, you won’t really know until you actually try it. If the piercings are off, I would suggest waiting at least 4 months, although 6 months is likely better, before trying to put one bar in the piercings. That also assumes the piercings are healing well at that point. If they are still red, sore and/or swollen at that point, putting once piece of jewelry into them probably isn’t your best option at that point.
I personally prefer to do industrials with one bar initial to avoid any potential shift in the angles of the piercings that can sometimes occur when you put in two separate pieces of jewelry. That may not be what’s going on here, as the piercings may have simply been done slightly off to begin with.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Thursday November 15th, 2007 @ 1:45 PM
Filed under: Ear
I had my lobes pierced just about three weeks ago (at 10g with an immediate strech up to 8ga) in an experience vastly different than any I’d had before. Keeping piercings above the neck has never been my forte (metal allergies, lost o rings and severe discomfort), but these piercings were never sore. I got crusties for about a week, and minor crusties at that.
As of this writing, they are loose around my plugs, skin all the way around and feel like normal earlobes. Is it possible they’ve healed this quickly?
I suppose that it’s possible they have healed, but it’s not likely. It also depend upon how you choose to judge the “degree” of healing. At three weeks your piercings won’t be able to stand the type of abuse (i.e., accidentally snagging the jewelry hard) that piercing that are months or years old will be able to stand. I would hesitate to call them “healed” at three weeks, but it possible you may not need to be quite as diligent about your aftercare routine at this point.
In general, listen to your body. It will generally do a very good job of letting you know what is okay and what isn’t.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 1 Comment
