Wednesday November 28th, 2007 @ 7:49 PM
Filed under: Tongue
I have two tongue piercings vertically. They were close to begin with (1 is 5 years old, the other is 2 or 3)The other day my daughter pulled on the back percing and ripped it a little so now they are even closer than before. I am afraid that if she pulls them again, they will rip completely and I will just have a big hole in my tongue. Would it be possible for me to turn both of the piercings into 1 larger guage piercing? If so, how?
This is possible…whether it’s something you will be happy with may be a different story. You could stretch one (or both) of the piercings until the tissue between the two piercings breaks. You could cut the tissue between the two piercings (you may want to find an experienced piercer to do this for you). You could tie a loop of dental floss or fishing line between the two holes and slowly tighten it over the course of a few days or week until it cuts through the tissue.
Just keep in mind that if you join the two holes in such a fashion, you will likely be left with a hole that is more oval shaped than round, and something that may not shrink as much as you may want it to should you decide to stop wearing the piercing in the future.
+2 / 2 votes 
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 3 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
Wednesday November 21st, 2007 @ 11:04 PM
Filed under: Nipple
I have a question with a picture too! all be it not the nicest picture ever xD. Anyway I had my nipple re-pierced at the beginning of the year an it healed fine. Over the last few months its developed a little puss lump that doesnt want to see to go away :(. I’ve tried salt soaks an changing the bar for a longer one but nothing seems to work, any advice pretty please? thankies 
Hi,
For starters I’d say that the length of that barbell is too long, even in an attempt to troubleshoot the problem. Was this done via your personal idea, or did a piercer suggest putting in a longer barbell and the sea salt soaks?
When doing the sea salt soaks how are you actually doing them? how much salt to water ratio? How long are you soaking the piercing for?
Usually a good idea to do hot compresses using a clean lint-free face cloth. You can try just using water (preferably distilled) although some piercers also suggest making a hot salt water compress instead. Not to mention another option is Chamomile Tea Bag compresses.
Any of these are honestly an option you should try as the hot compression of the moist cloth/tea bag will help open up the pores and either drain the problem area or bring it to the surface.
As for why its occurring more lifestyle troubleshooting would have to be done in order to pin point exactly WHY its doing this, if it occurs often,etc.
But definitely try one of the three hot compress ideas that was mentioned above for at least a week and see if the problem is reduced.
+1 / 1 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | 1 Comment
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 @ 2:01 PM
Filed under: Nipple
I have a double nipple piercing in my right nipple, with both a vertical and a horizontal piercing. The vertical one is 2 years old, and the horizontal one is about 9 months old. Both seemed to be healed well, until about a month ago my lover bit a little too hard and now both are crusting, my nipple is very sore, and the horizontal one became so swollen I had to change the jewelry to a longer barbell. But something I did notice when I changed the jewelry, and if I move the jewelry a significant amount even now, is I can feel the 2 barbells meeting inside my nipple! Like, the 2 piercing holes have combined or something, so that the 2 pieces of jewelry are sitting directly on top of each other. (I hope this makes sense) Could this be what’s causing all of my issues? And is this something I should be worried about? Thanks for your help!
It’s very possible the bite you experienced damaged/tore the tissue that was between the two barbells. From the picture, it appears as though you don’t have large nipples to begin with, so pinch/tearing of the tissue between the two pieces of jewelry would already be a concern. If that tissue does tear, it is very likely it will cause some pain and irritation. It can also create a larger “pocket” for bacteria, skin cells and fluids to become trapped. If you haven’t experienced any infection at this point, it’s unlikely the rubbing barbells are going to cause you any major issues, but it could be a situation where the piercings never truly become “happy” again because of the friction of the jewelry rubbing.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 2 Comments
Thursday November 15th, 2007 @ 1:59 PM
Alright, this is really embarrassing, but I’m not exactly sure what to search for in engines and querying “yeast” in this AskBME search didn’t do anything, but I really want to know. I’m on antibiotics and I have a fully healed vertical clitoral hood piercing. Whenever I take antibiotics, I developed a mild-to-moderate yeast infection. Usually I don’t treat it as it goes away by itself when I eat a lot of yogurt and whatnot, but this is my first one since getting the piercing. I know that the tissue gets irritated and it has bled minimally before, but now that it’s pierced I’m not sure if it is going to seriously affect it. I keep imagining the skin around the CBR rotting away and I get a sinking feeling whenever I go to check on its condition. I feel like the area covering the CBR is shrinking, but that could be my own paranoia. Do I have anything to worry about? Thanks so much!
A yeast infection should not negatively affect your piercing in the long term. If the yeast infection normally affects the “quality” of the tissue, you will probably still experience that, but it shouldn’t have any long-term effects on your piercing.
+2 / 2 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 1 Comment
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
