I just got my lobes scalpelled today and wanted to write about it while it is still fresh in my memory. I have been stretching my lobes for a few years and had 00g lower lobe piercings and 2g second lobe piercings. It was about eight months ago that I decided I wanted to get the two piercings scalpelled together to help redirect my lobes so they would be more centered, and that's when I started stretching my second lobes.
At A Glance Author meg When It just happened Artist anonymous Studio anonymous Location california So anyway, I talked to a piercer in my town and he referred me to a friend of his since he wasn't comfortable with tissue removal (as it is technically a gray area legally in Cali). It was almost a two hour drive to get there, and I was already getting nervous. Also I ended up driving myself since my husband got sick and no one else was available at the last minute, so I was hoping I wasn't going to be in terrible pain for the drive home.
I got there a few minutes early. My piercer (who I won't name as I'm not sure if he would want me to) was there along with a friend of his and another tattoo artist, otherwise the place was empty (they'd just opened an hour before). We said hello and he started getting a bunch of plugs in different sizes sterilized, since he wasn't sure what size he would end up needing. They all went outside for a smoke and I hung around in the shop looking at their jewelry. When they came back in we chatted for a few minutes and my piercer helped a mother and daughter who were looking for nose piercing jewelry. I asked him about pain as I wasn't sure what to expect, and he said that it was similar to a regular piecing, except that its in the reverse order: first you feel a pinch, then you feel pressure.
Finally the sterilization process was done and we went into the piercing room. I was definitely nervous and feeling the adrenaline at this point. I took my old jewelry out and put it in a little metal cup the piercer offered me. Then he had me sit down on the bench so he could mark my ears. One of my second lobe piercings had been pierced at an odd angle, so he had to cut each ear slightly differently to even them out. Once he was done marking he let me look in the mirror and they looked good to me so he had me lie down so we could get started.
After cleaning my ears he placed a dam over the side of my face with a hole for my ear to go through, to help keep the blood from running everywhere. He started out by scoring my ear with some shallow cuts so that he could rub some stuff on them which was both a numbing agent and that helped constrict the capillaries to reduce bleeding. The scoring hurt a bit but it was bearable. After he put some pressure on it to stop the bleeding came the most painful part, the clamping. The pain was pretty intense from the clamp and wouldn't have been bearable except that it only lasted a few intense seconds, then the pain subsided enough for me to handle it. For the actual cutting he had me inhale deeply and then exhale as he began cutting. Ironically I think the deep cutting was the least painful part, or at least not any more painful that the light scoring at the beginning.
I could feel the blood immediately start running down my neck, so he held some gauze against it for a little while before clamping and cutting on the other side of the piece of tissue that was being removed. After a lot of bleeding and gauze-holding (he said the stuff he rubbed on my lobes didn't seem to work very well in terms of reducing the bleeding) and a few more shallow cuts he finally was able to put the plug in and the o-ring on the back. He cleaned my ear up and I was able to look in the mirror at my beautiful new lobe, which looked big and perfect! The adrenaline was making me shake and my hands wouldn't stop sweating, otherwise I felt okay and my ear had a warm burning sensation that was quite tolerable.
The other ear was pretty much the same except it bleed a little more so took a little bit longer. When the scalpelling was completed I got up and felt so jumpy from the adrenaline that I had the urge to go run around the building a few times. I was surprised how little my ears hurt, just a little achey at this point. The piercer sterilized my old jewelry for me without me even asking, and charged a basic piercing fee which I thought was super cheap and awesome. He gave me some salt for salt soaks and an aftercare sheet. He told me the healing should go pretty quick and to just do salt soaks and clean with Bromer's soap if needed. He also said he expected that I would go from 5/8" to 3/4" in about 2 months without even trying. I guess lobes stretch really quickly and easily after scalpelling, which is great since I want to end up at 1 inch.
I felt like my piercer did a great job and it was a great experience, so I tipped him and thanked him profusely, and then went on my merry way! The drive home was fine, my ears were a little sore but nothing major, and the acheyness only lasted for 3 hours or so. My left lobe kept bleeding slightly for a few hours (the one that bled more initially) but eventually clotted and stopped. That's the end of my story as it has brought me up to the present moment. So far scalpelling has been a great experience and I am so glad I decided to do it! Thanks for reading :)