I have been thinking about scalpelling my ears for quite some time now. I stretched way too quickly from a 0ga to a 1/2" almost a year and a half ago, giving myself a huge blow-out and too much scar tissue to keep stretching normally. Also, because I have huge lobes, the placement of my jewelry wasn't exactly centred in my ear. There was lots of distance between the eyelet and the edges- no problems with thinning- just not the most attractive place for my jewelry to sit. So, I decided to have my ears cut to change the position of the jewelry, and make the holes bigger at the same time.
At A Glance Author Whitney Contact Fuzzybeast_inc@hotmail.com IAM Fuzzybeast When Six months ago Artist Matt Cottrell Studio Planet Ink Location Ottawa, ON Naturally, I went and started talking to my piercer Matt Cottrell. He explained that he would use a scalpel to cut a tiny wedge out of my ear, angled up slightly to fill the empty space. We talked about going directly to a full inch, but decided it would be best to do it in two parts so we could get the placement perfect (and also I think I'm too much of a chicken to do it all at once). We talked about jewelry requirements and Matt sent me off to find 3/4" tunnels with a single flare and enough length to accommodate swelling and my fat lobes.
I decided on some Tuflon eyelets. They arrived within a week and I brought them to the shop for Matt's approval. We both admired the craftsmanship and then they went into the autoclave. He didn't have the tools to cut my ears that night, so we set up an appointment for a few days later.
Three o'clock on Monday rolled around awfully quickly and my sister, Erica, met me at my office. We got a quick bite to eat to help me handle the trauma and then met up with our friend Pat. The three of us headed down to the shop and chatted in the lobby while Matt prepared his stuff. One of the most comforting parts about getting work from a guy like Matt is that I KNOW that I don't have to watch over him like a hawk. I've known him long enough that it's just a given that he will always pay the utmost attention to performing a safe and clean procedure. It's a very relaxing, reassuring feeling.
Once everything was set up we went to his room and took some 'before' shots of my ears. Matt had me sit down on his bench, facing him. He looked carefully at my lobes and made some marks. He then had me pull out my eyelets and changed the marks around on my lobes. He spent a few minutes marking and remarking my ears until he was satisfied. I check out the little triangles he had drawn in the mirror. It looked like he was cutting way more than he needed to! I pointed out that I was only adding 1/4" to my jewelry. He assured me that if anything, it wasn't big enough. I was skeptical, but I trust him so I shrugged and agreed that he was the expert.
I lay down on the bench and Matt tucked a dental bib under my right ear, around my neck to catch the blood. He took his forceps and spent some time clamping my ear in a way that would allow him total access to the area he was cutting. After a minute he asked if I was ready. I was as ready as I was going to get so he went ahead and took up the scalpel.
The first cut felt like a sharp, burning. It was totally weird and indescribable to feel the blade slice through my lobe. That strange sensation stayed during the second cut, although there was pretty well no pain. Instead my ear felt really numb. It just felt like pressure. My ear got really hot all of a sudden and knew that I had just starting gushing blood. Matt made a few more small cuts and then grabbed my plug. He couldn't fit it in first try (I guess he really did need to take more!) so he cut a little more and then slid the eyelet in. The jewelry insertion was easily the worst part because he really had to shove it in there so there would be pressure to stop the bleeding. Once the plug was in place, Matt started to mop blood off of my ear and neck while Erica snapped pictures. The bleeding stopped fairly quickly (I've never been much of a bleeder). Matt did more clean up and then trimmed away a little excess skin from the back. After another minute he put the o-ring on the plug. That was uncomfortable because he had to tug on my ear a little bit. Matt urged me to check it out in the mirror so I sat up slowly (this was no time for a head rush!). My ear was bright red and my face was white.
Matt was in no hurry to get to the other lobe which was nice because it meant we could just relax for a minute. Eventually Matt switched to the other side, reclamped my ear, and asked if I was ready to go again. I was feeling a little worn out from the first ear, but I knew that time wouldn't help me feel better. I know how far I can push my body and although I was fidgety I wasn't in danger of passing out. I gave Matt the go-ahead and he took up the scalpel again. The second ear was very much like the first one except that it didn't bleed quite as much.
Once both of my eyelets were in place Matt did a more thorough clean up of my ears and neck. I got to look in the mirror and simply fell in love. They looked beautiful! The jewelry itself didn't seem that much bigger than my old stuff, but it filled out my lobe and made my ear a nicer shape. They just looked so much BETTER. I was thrilled, despite the pesky throbbing sensation that had set in.
We took some 'after' pictures. I paid Matt and gave him a $20 tip, which he absolutely deserved! We chatted about a few things and then it was time to go. The winter air was really unpleasant on my poor ears. It actually made them ache! The pain just felt like a warm burning when I was inside.
I'm a fan of minimal aftercare and I treated my newly cut lobes the same way I would any fresh piercing. I left it alone for the first two days because I didn't want it to start bleeding. I basically just rinsed the blood off in the shower. I slept with a clean towel over my pillow in case they started bleeding in the night.
They were very sensitive for the first few days and I had to be careful not to answer the phone too quickly or catch the jewelry as I removed my shirt. If I bumped them, or disturbed the scab my lobes would start to bleed but it was never excessive. It took about two or three weeks before I could comfortably sleep on my side and the scabs came off around that same time.
The only problem I ran into was that about a week after the procedure I noticed I had lost pretty much all of the feeling in my lobes. They were a healthy colour and seemed to be healing well enough, I just couldn't feel them. I went to see Matt and he told me he'd never heard of this before but that I shouldn't worry too much unless my ear started changing colour or becoming painful. After about a month most of the feeling returned and I was assured by a friend of mine that he went through the same thing and that it was because my body was trying to repair all the internal structures of my lobe that had been messed up when I had a wedge cut out of it.
As I mentioned before I didn't think the size difference between my 1/2" jewelry and my new 3/4" jewelry was very noticeable. My ear also wasn't the exact shape I wanted. The first cut had made it a lot more appealing but now that they're fully healed I can see that I will need to have them cut again sometime within the next few months to make the lower portion of my ear the same size as the upper portion and increase the size to a full inch.