My ears have been at a healthy 3/4" for quite some time now and I have been considering having them scalpelled to a full inch for almost as long. I was never really satisfied when they were cut from 1/2" to 3/4" because the size difference wasn't big enough. I have fat healthy ear lobes and since the first cut the holes are quite loose and I can easily pull the larger side of my tunnels, which have a 7/8" single flare, through the fistula very easily. I was planning to cut up to a full inch before both artists in my area who offer this told me that they wanted to take out tissue. I had already lost a sizeable amount from the first cut and decided that I didn't want anymore taken out just incase I had issues with thinning later on that would make me regret the cut. Well, that and I'm a bit of a chicken shit and the idea of being sliced open with a scalpel again just wasn't that appealing.
At A Glance Author Whitney Contact Whitney@bme.anon IAM Fuzzybeast When N/A Location Ottawa, ON I decided to stretch using PTFE tape (Teflon tape) which is a kind of inert plastic ideal for contact with the body (and fixing leaky pipes- oddly enough). I picked up a roll for less than a dollar in the plumbing section of the local hardware store to begin my stretching. I was a little nervous about the material initially because I had tried it once before and my sensitive lobes reacted by swelling and blistering and generally becoming quite painful. Of course, I have a feeling that had a lot to do with the way I was stretching, considering the massive blow out that I ended up with...
Last night I stretched my left ear to 13/16" and my right ear to 27/32" using the tape. The most complicated part seemed to be getting the tape (which has no adhesive) onto the jewelry. The enlarged plugs slid easily into my ears with no discomfort. Today when I woke up I noted that my skin seemed a little dry where it was touching the PTFE tape but there was no pain, swelling, or discomfort in the area so I decided to just let it be and watch for a turn for the worse.
By night time no further irritation had developed so I decided the Teflon tape would be fine, especially because the tunnels were able to move through my ear as the surface wasn't too tacky. I noticed that when I pulled down on the plug there was still a small gap between my lobe and jewelry (prior to this stretch there had been a rather large one). And if I slide the jewelry out of my ear I could actually feel the size difference in my holes. I was thrilled.
I pulled out my left plug and noticed that the edge of the tape had begun to roll up from me playing with my earrings all the time. I pulled back a bit of it, trimmed off the rolled part, and smoothed it back down. I then began to wrap more ptfe tape around the plug to make it a full 7/8". It was a little tricky to start the wrapping but once I got the tape to stick to itself the job got easier. Once I had enlarger the jewelry I rolled out of my desk to pack down the ptfe tape. If this is not done than the tape will natural compress under the pressure of the piercing hole and you'll lose some of your stretch. That's definitely not the end of the world, but it will set you back a bit.
I spat on my plug and spread the saliva around (this is not especially sanitary but I'm all about the natural lube). I tried to push the plug into my ear but it didn't slide so well. I spat on my fingers and made my lobe really wet and push the plug into my ear. It didn't slide as well as I would have liked but I was only met with slight resistance and it didn't hurt so I kept going. It was sort of awkward to wipe all the slobber off of my ear afterward though. When I pulled down on the earring there was very little space between the tunnel and my lobe. I adjusted the placement of the larger tunnel to make sure that it wasn't putting uneven pressure on any point of the fistula.
I followed the same sort of procedure with my right ear. This one slide into my ear with easy although it was sort of tight and didn't leave much space when I pulled down on the plug.
For the rest of the night I could feel that my earrings were larger. I'm never really sure how to explain this part. It wasn't painful at all but I could sense the slight bit of extra pressure in lobes. I'm really happy with how my stretching is going so far. I'm making great progress and my body is reacting so well.