I would have never guessed that I would take it this far.... I started stretching my ears when I was 18. I liked the way it looked on other people and figured that I would like it on me, well I did.
At A Glance Author Emiley Contact EmileyCenturian@aol.com When Six months ago Artist John Durante Studio Stigma Body Mofification Location San Diego, California I jumped right into stretching my ears without doing much research, I knew that I wanted those 10ga earrings in my ears and wanted to work my way up to a 2gauge. So slowly but surely, I worked my way to that gauge, but it never seemed big enough.
After stretching my ears the "traditional" way, I was told I could go no bigger than 5/8", so I had my ears cut to 3/4". I wore that jewelry until my eras healed, then stretched to 7/8".
In February of 2001, I moved to San Diego, which is the home to a number of well-known shops; one caught my eye called Stigma. I hopped on a bus and went down there to see what they were all about. I didn't talk to anyone about anything, just chatted about small stuff and left feeling comfortable with the guys who worked at the shop.
I gave it some thought and decided that I did want to take my ears to the next level, so I called them up and talked to John. He wanted me to come down so he could take a look at my ears and then we could discuss what would be done.
I went down there, nervous as all hell and met with John. He was very helpful and said he wanted to do it. So we made the appointment, I ordered the jewelry and was left to wait. It would be a couple of weeks until I could have it done, so it was just waiting...and waiting.... and even more waiting.
Well, the day finally came when I was going to have it done, so I went down there and John greeted me and said that my jewelry didn't come in. Since I had been looking forward to that day for a couple of weeks I told John I wasn't leaving the shop unless I left with bigger ears.
This is when it all begun....
He showed me the selection I had to choose from in 1 1/8", and I picked out a pair of water buffalo horn plugs. I was a little unsure of cutting my ears and then putting an organic material in, but he said it should be okay, so I trusted the professional's opinion.
We went back into the room and he looked at both my ears and came to the conclusion that what we would need to do was a "pie cut'. That is where he actually removes a piece of my lobe and then places the jewelry in.
After I was all cleaned up and good to go, he had me lie back on the table and went over the process one more time. I was good to go at that point, so he asked me to turn my head to the side and it began.
He placed the hemostats on pretty tight and me, being the big sissy that I am, squirmed but he said that I would thank him when it was done. I felt the pressure on my ear, went over some breathing exercises, and he made his first cut.
It felt hotter than anything, then slight pinching. The pressure is what got me more than anything. I could feel my blood trickle down the side of my neck and I felt my ear fill up with it. I could feel John applying all of his pressure to my ear trying to get that piece of tissue removed, finally after about 2 minutes of cutting he removed the tissue, wiped off the blood so he could see, and went to put the jewelry in, now this was more painful than the actual cutting itself, since my ear was bleeding, I am guessing that it made it slippery and a bit of a task to pop it in, but he did it. He cleaned that side up and rushed over to the other side.
I was still going strong because I had all these endorphins running through my body and this side I thought was going to be a bit easier that the other, but I was wrong.
The tissue on this side of my ear was a bit tougher than the other side, so he was cutting for a while. That's when I started to feel exactly what it was that he was doing. After about 3 minutes of what seemed like eternity, he finally got it out. At this point in time I could feel that I was pretty bloody and my ears were on fire.
So, as if it wasn't enough of a task cutting my ear, it was even tougher getting the jewelry in, but once again he came through. After he put the plugs in, I just lay there on the table, ears throbbing yet so excited to see my new ears.
I sat up slowly and opened my eyes to see John smiling because he was happy with what he had done, and I was shocked to see how much blood was all over the room. I had blood in my hair, on my shirt, he had it on him, on the floor and even on the mirror that was nowhere near me.
I looked at my ears for the first time and could do nothing but smile. I was the proud new owner of 1 1/8" ears and they were ever so beautiful. He finished cleaning me up, put the pieces of tissue he removed in a bag and went over the healing and cleaning process and what to expect in the next couple of days.
The first night was hell.... my ears were incredibly swollen and were pretty sore. That night of sleeping wasn't a cup of tea either, I had to sleep flat on my back and I toss and turn so that wasn't too easy, but I managed.
I went back down to Stigma a couple of days later, John thought that they were doing perfect and wanted to take some pictures for an article he was doing in Savage Tattoo on piercing. He took some pictures and that was that.
My ears have since healed fine and now I am at 1 ¼". My ears are my favorite out of all my modifications, tattoos included. I can wear the most beautiful plugs and ear weights. They tell a story not many ears do. They have been worked on by some of the most incredible piercers in the industry and are just absolutely beautiful. It's a journey for me, not just physically but spiritually. Who knows where I will stop, I don't.