I had been stretching my lobes for almost 2 years since the scalpeling procedure. I had stretched up to 7/8 with no problems, rather quickly, but then moved up to an inch with some blowout, and then downsized to nothing. After restretching my ears back to 7/8 the problem had only become worse. I decided it was impossible to get rid of the problem so moved up to an inch. From there on things were not so fun. my right ear was much friendlier to stretch than my left. So I sat with inch tunnels in my ear and I was content with staying there for a while as stretching was nearly impossible.
At A Glance Author Sumo Contact Sumo@bme.anon IAM tehsumo When Three months ago I went to a local shop to talk to the piercer about my lobes and he told me to sea salt soak and do some oil massages. He also told me to get some new plugs since my current pair were cheap stainless steel, too short, and sharp around the edges. He was super nice about it and called up a friend of his to see if he had any old inch plugs. He didn't but later that night at his house he lent me a pair of bamboo plugs.
After a month of sea salt soaks and oil massages the tissue was resolving its own problems but was still in bad condition. I decided to move up a size and buy a pair of 1 1/8 Pyrex tunnels. This was by far my favorite pair of tunnels so far. They kept my ears in great condition, and was given a new hope to stretching to my goal size of 1 1/2". I ordered some wood plug in 1 1/4 and 1 3/8. The reason for wood was simple, I found out glass breaks, and I was just not able to risk buying new plugs for simple accidents. The plugs came and they fit in the right ear, but the left was not compliant. So I tried taping my glass tunnel with Teflon tape to get to 1 1/4. No luck in this as every time I would try my lobe would get dry and unhappy.
After two or three months of adding single layer of tape I finally made it to 1 1/4 in both ears and could fit 1 3/8 in my left ear. It was time for my lobes to rest.
A month after this size I tried and tried to tape up but it was not happening. My left ear was at the end of the line, the scar tissue was holding it back. It was not going to stretch unless I was to force jewelry in, and by now I had learned my lesson.
I decided to have my lobes scalpeled, realizing this was a huge decision and would keep my lobes open for life. To me it was worth it in the end. Around January 2007 I had my lobes scalpeled. Only scar tissue was removed. My lobes went from (left)1 1/4-1 1/2 and (right) 1 3/8- 1 5/8. The actual cuts were fast and were a tolerable pain. The blade felt like a intense burning sensation, it was very different from anything I had experienced. After words glass eyelets were placed in and I felt amazing.
The next few days was a pain as these huge lobes of mine kept getting knocked by random things. The crusted blood clots were not so fun and sleeping was a murder scene. after a few weeks the scabs were gone and the skin was that of a baby's. I waited about 3 weeks until I moved up to organics.
I wore 1 5/8 double flared plugs which wear very tight to get it, for about 3 hour and then pulled down to see a huge gap. After about a week of that the plugs were nearly falling out, so I moved up to 1 3/4. Again they were tight fitting and then hours later were very loose. Currently I am taping up from 1 3/4 even though I can easily go up to 1 7/8, I am trying to stretch as slowly as possible, and I plan to get to 2" and then downsize as much as I can then upsize to thicken my lobes. The only downfall to the lobe scalpeling is my lobes don't quite hang the same but this is fixing itself as I stretch more and more. my lobes hang much more open which is a person preference if you like or not.
When it came down to it, large lobes are something that requires a large amount of work to get. You must be smart from the beginning or there is no chance of having large healthy lobes. To me the cutting was worth it. my lobes are able to stretch with the same elasticity as before they acquired scar tissue. It was worth it to me.