At A Glance Author Paindreamer Contact Paindreamer@hotmail.com IAM Paindreamer When A year ago Artist Me Studio My apartment Location Boras.Sweden Before I share my experience I just want to say a little something about stretching. In the past I have wrote some stretch experiences and always added a little warning about it, because I personally think that if you are going to stretch you should consult with a body piercer or a person with plenty of experience of stretching. When you stretch you move the tissue a side so the jewelry will fit the hole. If this procedure is done to swiftly there is a good chance you will crack the part that is stretch. Not only is this very painful but the tissue takes a bit of time to heal up properly. There for take it easy and be patience and the result will be much better then if you force yourself to stretch more then your body can accept.
It was about 3 years ago I first came up with the thoughts that I wanted to get my ear cartilage pierced. It did not take long before I took action and got it pierced. Because I did not have any patience to go to a professional piercer I decided to do it myself (I personally recommend everyone to go to a professional body piercer). I had done some self piercing in the past so I knew a little about it but there were something different about this one, The only difference was that I did not have a needle,instead I used a 2 mm taper. It was very stiff and hard to penetrate but after about 10 minutes it was through. I was amazed over the fact that this did not hurt very much and the blood consumption was very little. the healing did very nice. The problems started when I got the "great" idea to start stretch my ear cartilage.
My journey to knowledge!
I thought my little ring in my ear looked silly and I feel I wanted to stretch a little. I had heard about some friends that dermal punch was the best way if you wanted bigger hole in cartilage, but because I am little scared of pain I thought that this was not an option for me. Punch a big hole at once must hurt like hell. Stretch must be much better. But there is a big difference in stretch lobes and cartilage, cartilage are hard and not flexible.
I began stretch very slow and carefully, There were some difficulties in the beginning of my first session. I feel instant that this was going to be hard. But after a few minutes I push the 2.4 mm jewelry in the hole. there were some pressure the first day, and there were some troubles sleeping that night because for some reason my head wanted to sleep on my left side, but that was not pleasant at all. So after a couple of hours I finally fall a sleep. After my first session I decided to put a taper inside to do a slow stretch. This was a obvious stupid idea but I thought it might work. Besides some difficulties when I was sleeping, and of course no touching it worked like a charm. So every day I screw a little on the taper and pressed a little more inside. This did hurt a little but I thought this was not worse then I could handle so I slowly continued. So after about 3 months I had 5 mm in my ear cartilage. It was a rough 3 months but I made it. The stupid thing I did was put a flesh tunnel inside my cartilage not thinking about that my ear was swollen and a little sore. So I feel that my ear was a little numb, but I screw on the back-clip on the flesh tunnel and feel instant that there were something wrong. I took it out and realized that the flesh tunnel was to short and that I had screwed the back piece in to my ear. When I looked at the flesh tunnel there were a piece of skin hanging from it.I had not feel it because my ear were so numb. I was a little shocked and started to immediately clean my ear with hot water, and saw that there were plenty of blood from the hole. But after a few minutes the blood stopped and decided to do this all over again. I let my ear rest a few days before I started. This time very slowly.
After about 6 months I was at the same size that was the end of my helix the last time. But this time I did prepare a proper jewelry. a month passed by before thoughts of do another stretch session popped up inside my head. It was great day, I feel very mental prepared and that this was not going to be any problems. I started with 5 - 8 mm taper and started slow and carefully. But without think about it this time I was a little more aggressive to stretch. It hurt plenty and every time I moved I feel pain in my ear, and that just made me angry. And who to blame? my ear of course and that made me press more and more. So after one day my ear feel a little weird. But at the time my adrenaline was pumping and my will to get my 8 mm cartilage only getting stronger and stronger. So I hardly pay any attention to my ear. I did not sleep much that night. because I rolled over all the time to my left side, and every time I woke up I went to the mirror to check the status of my ear. At the same time I was up I pressed and screw a little on the taper. Like a little punishment for wake me up. Sounds insane I know but I think I was at the time, and I am a little cranky when I wake up in the middle of the night. The following morning I noticed that the taper were almost through. So I gave it a final push, It was very hard this time. My ear was very sore and was a little swollen. But when it was almost through and I should do the switching of the jewelry I realized what I have done. It was like I had open a crane, blood was floating out of my ear. I feel the pressure just disappeared and in a matter of seconds I had colored my sink red, my ear was filled with blood dripping down on my cheek. Was a little scary, I thought the bleeding would never stop. luckly it did. When I was finished cleaning up my bathroom after my "blood-play" I looked in the mirror and saw that the hole was almost gone. I called up a friend of mine and told him what happend and that I wanted some photos on my ear. So he came to apartment and immediately st "\Ãw€ë art to laugh when he saw the backside of my ear, "It looks like a butt-hole" he said, I did not think that was very funny at all. Until I saw the pictures on his digital camera. It did look like a butt-hole. It was hilarious at the time because I did not think about it that much. The pain and the pressure was gone and finally I could sleep like a normal person again.
I think I am lucky because now my ear looks ok, I thought I would have that butt there forever. But it changed back. the cartilage is gone in my ear, there is only skin there now. And on the backside it is like a little crater. I belive it will stay like that the rest of my life. It is now a mark that is a reminder to me, not only that sometime I do stupid things but also that I have more knowledge about stretching and about pain. In the present I would never stretch my cartilage with a taper. If I do want a bigger hole in my cartilage I definite will do a dermal punch, it may hurt like hell but I will never put myself through that kind of pain I had with a taper never again.
Thank you for read my cartilage stretch experience!
I want to finish this experience by give you a warning not to attempt "Force-stretching". This is very unpleasant and the tissue may have some difficulties heal up properly. If you have bad luck your ear can be disfigured and to be honest having a "butt-hole" in the ear is not very cool. Take care of your bodies. Health goes first!