Ever since I decided to start stretching my ears, I've been really fervent with it. I absolutely hate waiting for results, in any way, shape, or form. I had been stretching them for about 6 months and I had finally reached one of my goals, 1/2". I got really bored one day, and had a little extra cash so I ordered some white stretchers online. They were really ugly, and long but I didn't mind 'cause they were 5/8's and I didn't really think about the long term consequences.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Myself Studio In my bathroom Location Ponca City, Oklahoma Anyways, I had ordered them and said to myself 'in a month or two, i'll be ready for them'. But as time and boredom both grew, the urge to put them in because greater and greater. I started asking my friends with stretched lobes how long they thought I should wait before I put in the 5/8" stretch, and all of them said at least 2 months, because I had only JUST purchased my two sets of half inch. About a month passes buy, and I'm getting extremely bored with my plain black 1/2 plugs, and was curious to see how far along I was with being able to stretch them. I went into the bathroom and checked out the gauges, and I slid them in almost all the way. So I said to myself "wow...if i forced it these could be in TOMORROW!". So...I forced it, and as they pushed in you could hear a small 'pop' sound and blood began to leak out of them...slowly.
The initial wave of pain didn't do much, but as time grew it began intensifying. I told myself "well, no turning back now", and popped the other gauge in. If I would have had ANY idea the amount of pain, and infection that followed, trust me I would have waited another month. That night might have been the hardest night I've ever had as far as sleep goes. These long tapered plugs rubbed against everything, and taking them out meant bloody sheets. The amount of pain I felt every night was only surpassed by that of me having to rotate and roll around the bloody, puss filled gauges. My ears were so sensitive that when people talked loud next to me, the vibrations hurt them. The wind when I was walking outside was torture. The worst part was, at my job I have to wear a headset, and talk to customers. The headset put pressure on my lobes and it was agony the entire time. I was snappy at the customers, and I would spend almost half of the time adjusting the headset as well as pulling giant puss filled blood crusties out of my infected, bloody, and scarred lobes.
That night I went home and took them out, to see what they looked like, and trust me it was gruesome. Tiny, bloody holes attached to the sides of my head, and crusted on blood was stuck to the gauges themselves. This is when I made my second mistake, I used hydrogen peroxide to clean them, because I had no alcohol. Unlike a a normal wound, you don't want your ears to heal fast, because they will shrink and cause scarring. This is exactly what the hydrogen peroxide did, it dried out the skin and the wound healed wrong. After about three weeks, they finally healed right, and I replaced the annoying elongated white stretchers with some clear plastic hair spay caps that I cut to size, and put o-rings on them.
My advice to people when they first start to stretch, save yourself the trouble, use ALCOHOL instead of hydrogen peroxide. Also, keep in mind that when you FIRST start stretching your ears the process will be slow. Until you reach about 3/4 of an inch (the point of no return) your lobes won't stretch as fast as you want them to, patience is key. Don't try to speed up the process, all it will do is cause scar tissue, which will hinder your ability to stretch as well. My lobes are now 1 inch and I am planning on going bigger soon. I have definitely learned my lesson, the warnings are there for a REASON.
Make sure that you have all the facts on ear stretching before you do something really stupid, like try to go big. If all you want to do is go big, and have no desire to go through the "baby gauge" phase, than I suggest you just go and get them scalpeled. I am personally against lobe scalpeling, because lobe scalpeling takes up alot of tissue, so you can't stretch them as big as if you got them punched at a 2, or pierced at a 6 or 8. Either way though, let my story be a lesson to you, don't do something stupid like me, and be patient. Your body is your canvas, so be patient with it and eventually it will become your masterpiece.