Bleeding ears + tapers

[[Vanilla Lace]]

So I'm stretching my first set of lobe piercings from 14 to 8 and I did the stupidest thing with the right one. I did it all in like a matter of 8-ish hours yesterday and started the left last night. I left it alone all night and then finished it off around noon-ish today.

I know you're supposed to do it over a few days (or at least the lady told me that) but it didn't hurt that bad so I'd do it a little till I felt a slight pain.

Well I took a shower (I heard it helps get plugs in easier?) and took out my right taper and my freakin' ear started bleeding. Why'd it do that and what should I do?
I put the taper back in and cleaned both and it hurts really bad now.  

[Warninglv100]

Well first off, 14ga to 8 ga is WAY too big to skip too in a few hours let alone days. And you can see why because you've basically torn your fistula inside your lobe. Downsize back down to 14ga so it can heal. Try going 14 to 12 to 10 to 8 and wait about three weeks between each stretch. You should probably let your ear heal for atleast 3 weeks before stretching again.

Stretching is a slow process. You can try doing it in a few days like I know some people do, but then you're going to end up with some nice scar tissue inside that'll limit and/ or make future stretching harder.

Just because it doesn't hurt doesn't mean your body is ok with it. Stretching puts a lot of stress on surrounding tissue, not to mention the inside of the piercing. You have to treat it like any mod and let it "heal" or recover over time.

Also, gauge sizes increase in more as the sizes get bigger, it's not jsut a matter of the mm diameter. You're ear feels the stretch of the circumfrence of the jewelry. If I did the math correctly, you went from 5.12mm in circumfrence to 10.24mm. That's twice the circumfrence.

So let your ears heal at 14ga and take it slow next time, and DON'T skip gauges. With a good stretch, there should never be blood and it should not hurt, only slightly sting.  

[shoe_trophy]

I went from a 14G to a 6G withint an hour and it went fine for me. It's a good idea to use polysporin to slip it in easier incase your lobe does rip it'll help it heal well too. But after you put the taper in, don't take it out to shower. A new hole closes extremely quickly, it causes unneeded trauma to the area. Which is probably why it started bleeding... I don't know if you used anything to "lube" the taper, but like I said, Polysporin works well. Hope this helps.  

[Warninglv100]

shoe_trophy

I went from a 14G to a 6G withint an hour and it went fine for me. It's a good idea to use polysporin to slip it in easier incase your lobe does rip it'll help it heal well too. But after you put the taper in, don't take it out to shower. A new hole closes extremely quickly, it causes unneeded trauma to the area. Which is probably why it started bleeding... I don't know if you used anything to "lube" the taper, but like I said, Polysporin works well. Hope this helps.

That is a really bad idea. And water based lubes are better to use for piercing to not irritate them as much. And what causes unneede trauma is stretching too quickly, not letting it shrink down. And what made it bleed after taking it out was the tear already made from stretching too quickly but it couldn't bleed out because it didn't have the room to do so.

Plus overstretching can lead to a nasty blow out.

Supporting link.  

[[Vanilla Lace]]

My friend said the same thing happened to him and I talked to another friend who said I just should have let it heal a few days before I started doing it again. But I was being a moron and didn't quite think about it.

I talked to the piercer and he said it was fine if I do it over a few days as long as I let it heal a bit before doing it more.
So now I'm pretty much not touching them, cleaning them and leaving the tapers in seeing as my right one slipped out today =  

[shoe_trophy]

Warninglv100

shoe_trophy

I went from a 14G to a 6G withint an hour and it went fine for me. It's a good idea to use polysporin to slip it in easier incase your lobe does rip it'll help it heal well too. But after you put the taper in, don't take it out to shower. A new hole closes extremely quickly, it causes unneeded trauma to the area. Which is probably why it started bleeding... I don't know if you used anything to "lube" the taper, but like I said, Polysporin works well. Hope this helps.

That is a really bad idea. And water based lubes are better to use for piercing to not irritate them as much. And what causes unneede trauma is stretching too quickly, not letting it shrink down. And what made it bleed after taking it out was the tear already made from stretching too quickly but it couldn't bleed out because it didn't have the room to do so.

Plus overstretching can lead to a nasty blow out.

Supporting link.

Mine didn't bleed at all when I stretched. I have friends who have made the same jump in gauges and haven't bled or had any problems either...  

[Zombina Corpse]

*Comes in to boss and play mother*


Stretching from a standard 16g or 14g to anything below 10g is just stupid and dangerous.

Please stop posting suggestions on how to 'properly' stretch to larger gauged jewelry from something standard.
It doesn't only set a bad example for our guild, but it makes people who don't know much about stretching think going from 14g to 8g or below is alright. It is not.

If you want to share a horror story about your stretching and tapering experience, go right ahead. But don't play it off like it was funny, and alright for others to do so.
Because no matter how much it didn't hurt you, or tear your body tissue, etc etc, it's stupid, dangerous, makes us in the guild look bad, and makes people who stretch their ears and other piercings look bad.


With that rant said and done, I'm going to lock this thread because of the following:


1. Skipping gauges when stretching is a big don't when it comes to stretching piercings. It's dangerous and causes scar tissue, bleeding, torn skin, bruising, etc.
2. For someone to post "well if you're going to stretch from 146 to 6g, do this and that first", is just stupid in my eyes and in the eyes of anyone else who knows how to stretch properly.


To answer the original poster's question:
It bled because you stretched too quickly. You have a blow-out. Cat's a**. Those are slang terms for what happens to your ears when you stretch and put in bigger jewelry too quickly.
The jewelry gauges go up in incriments for a reason, and unless you know how to use a taper properly, don't use one. 'The lady' was right when she said to use the taper over a period of a few days. Never take out any new jewelry, because as someone already said, it'll close extremley quickly.

Give in to sin;
ZombinaCorpse / MiLK`
Keep it brutal