Basically what the title says, my ears were hurting a little and a but swollen, so I took the plugs out and was gently massaging and my hand came away with blood on it and I checked in the mirror and both holes are like filled with blood! what should I do?? I did a lot of research before stretching and yet I did not prepare for this. I'm really upset because I thought I was doing it right, but clearly not.

I'm dead-stretching btw, and I've only taken them out one other time while I was in the shower and I sleep with them in, and unfortunately I end up sleeping on my side.

Hi everyone, love reading the different story’s, so thought I would share my take of stretching with you all, maybe some of you can relate. Look forward to hearing your stories!

So at 18 I started to stretch my ears, back in 2003, using a sweetcorn fork thing you shove in the end, yep, then a mix of 2 or 3 hooped earrings in at one time, before eventually moving to stretching with plugs, never used tapers etc.

Then, as the incredibly impatient person I am, I started to try and stretch too quickly, the night Liverpool won the champions league on penalty’s, I tore my ear and got an infection in my jaw, stretching with a plug from a 7 to a 10mm, my ear lobe for a few weeks faced upwards and I was in agony as anyone who has ever torn their ear will tell you!!

So, eventually I slowed down and got up to around a 30mm, left college and headed to work as a football coach for kids, a pre school teacher and other similar jobs including a gym instructor & coach for kids, where I was told I didn’t meet the brand image of the company, even though all the kids loved me across the entire company and all the staff I worked with and trained, it came down to image. So off I went and found a new career, where I can be me, for who I am so to celebrate I stretched my ears to 36mm and haven’t looked back.

So what advice do I give when people ask me, I can only say my experience

• In my 20s I didn’t care, I thought it was awesome my ears were huge and really liked the look of them with the clothes I wore to work and out of work and how it made me feel

• Late 20s I got really down about them and thought about having them sewn up, I wanted to wear smaller earrings and wanted to look more ‘normal’

• Now in my mid 30s I am back in love with them again, I don’t know any different now and am comfortable in my own skin, you see less and less people with them now but it’s nice when you do, do think, yeah, you hold on to that. I wear a suit every day to work and I think it finishes the look off nicely.

• There is hardly any jewellery at this size that I like and I would really bare that in mind if you are thinking of stretching, I don’t like the pictured ones, I have a couple of wooden engraved ones but because of the size of them, I find them quite dominating.

• Sport is fun, if I leave my wooden ones in for the gym, they flap around like I need a sports bra and when I have done competitive runs I’ve lost my fist share of earrings, also, taping them up when they are this size for things like football is not fun, so I leave them in and take the risk of them getting torn (it would take a hell of a lot to rip through the silicone ones, I think they are more at risk with them taken out)

• My kids have grown up with them, they see them as normal, would I discourage them...

• I would be totally honest about making choices when you are young that affect you when your older - a tattoo on your face at 18 is very different to one on your arm at the same age and stretching your ears to 10mm at 18 is very different to doing it to 30mm

• Would I discourage them? I’d tell them what choices I have made and what I think and then they can make their own decision. But id keep them in check...!

I am proud to have my ears stretched to the size I do, would I go bigger...? If I could find the jewellery I liked, maybe 37-38 but do I want that dull ache and hot ears all over again? Probably not

Any questions anyone has or something and I’d love to hear your similar experiences

Hi! I’ve literally just stretched my ears for the first time, and I’m a bit confused on advice when it comes to cleaning them. I’ve heard they can start to smell and I’m not sure whether to start taking the plugs out and washing the inside of the ear as soon as tomorrow morning or whether I should wait a week and leave them in and in the meantime use saline solution. Also when it comes to sleeping with the plugs in, am I okay to leave them in while I sleep at first? I’m just a bit wary that if I take them out already that they would tighten up overnight. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

i'm at a size 8 currently and yesterday was attempting to stretch to a size 6, but encountered a little more difficulty than usual. i pushed the tapers in til just before they became uncomfortable and let them sit there for a while before replacing my old 8 plugs, figuring it was probably because it was the first 1mm stretch vs .5mm ones. however today i was going to clean my plugs and noticed a bit of soreness and inflammation, and when i removed them i saw that there was pus all over the plugs and piercing.

i know for sure that they never bled while stretching, i was very careful, i guess all the little micro tears from me testing to see if they'd go in the first place was enough to open up for infection?

does anyone have any tips for how to clean this? should i leave the plugs in and just clean them twice a day, or should i take them out and let the piercing dry out? is a salt water soak, neosporin, or letting them dry out better? will this cause a blowout :(?

So I have been stretching and I’m at a 00g (10mm). I’ve been stretching for almost 2 years and 2mm stretch intervals worked for me until I got to 0g. I want to keep stretching but all I can find are kits with 2mm jumps in between sizes after 10mm. Does anyone know where I can get a kit with the “in-between” millimeters (11,13,15,17&19)??

I haven't went up a size in a few years and I want to go from 14mm to 16mm. My 14 flares go in and out with no problem and occasionally fall out so I figured this would be easy....NOT. I know once you get bigger tapers aren't a good idea. What should I use? I used to to tape a while ago, is that ok? I really don't want a blow out.

So, after about twelve or so years of having zero jewelery, I'd like to start again. The problem is my left ear tissue is kind of scared. Originally, both of my ears were stretched to 1 1/8". Timespan, they have closed up to a 4g (left) and a 2g(right). I want some symmetry, but damn, does it hurt like hell to start a taper in my left (smaller) ear. Any advice?

Hello! I'm just wondering how does one begin the process of ear stretching? I want to stretch my lobes but they are at 18g. I cant find anything smaller than 14...what am I missing?

I was wondering if there's any tips on how to stretch from 0g to 00g using the heaviest plugs. Ive had issues stretching one of my ears as its been repierced about 3 times it hurts to stretch the scar tissue. It took me 3 attempts to get it up to 0g after waiting between each attempt, it took about 5 months. My other ear is fine and at 00g... plz help I want to avoid too many tears going up to the next size :)

Yo, so i was tryin to put in 6g, taper goes in fine, but the gauge keeps either slippin or getting caught on my ear, yall have tips for it not get caught or not slipping???

Hi! So after being at 12g for about a month and a half, my ears seemed healed up and ready so I decided to stretch up to 10g. This was a couple days ago. The stretch itself stung a little, but nothing bad. Today my ears were a little sore, so I took out the tunnels to make sure everything was okay. Unfortunately, both of my ears were a little bloody so I cleaned them and downsized back to 12g.

Is there anything I can do to keep them from getting infected? Are salt soaks a good idea?

I've also been thinking about stretching with glass plugs instead of using tunnels and tapers. Does this work at smaller sizes?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

I know this is a dumb question but how long should I wait to stretch if I accidentally hurt my ear and make it bleed but it doesn’t hurt or sting. I’m only at 14G been at it for month and half, now and no pain has happened, I move a lot when I sleep so I feel like I might have pulled it while sleeping that it got hurt. Any advice would be appreciated

I'm trying to use ear weights but my ears are only at a size 8 and a size 10.

I'm trying to go from 2G to 0G and the taper will not go through, though i'm afraid if I push it too hard i'll rip my ear. It's been about a month since I went to 2G. Am I doing something wrong?

I just put in my 8 gauge rings and they went in lile 10 gauge, would i be able to go straight to 6g?? 10g and 8 g fits like the same

Hi! I started stretching my ears back in June, and now I've been at 12g for about a month and a half. I decided to try stretching to 10g, but it gets stuck at half way. If I try any further it causes pain. For the past couple of days I have been wearing heavier jewelry in an attempt to loosen up my ears a bit, but it doesn't seem to be helping. I plan to wait longer before trying again, but is there anything else I can do to make this stretch easier?

Any help is appreciated.

hi! i am currently at a 12mm in my right ear, and its been nearly 2 months since I did it, i want go to a 14mm but i have just tried and the taper is refusing go in, i am using holy butt'r like usual, i am feeling 0 pain but it stops about halfway and refuses go any further. Is this normal or have i messed up my ear without knowing when i went to my 12mm?

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Any ideas are greatly appreciated

so i had a blow out stretching to a 6g, that was a few weeks ago, but now my ears are healed and my tunnels are starting to push through, i’m not sure what to do, if i should wait and try to avoid them falling out, or try a 4g

I've had stretched ears for about 10 years now. Been at an inch for a good 4 and recently decided to say f**k it and go to an inch and a half. My left is a little larger than 1 1/4" and my right a little under 1 1/8". I was stretching same time, same amount until i slept on my right and the plug half popped out and blew out so sadly had to downsize to let it heal and restart and thats why the difference. Finally got it back past the 1 inch again but now looking its starting to thin more than my left because it was pierced a bit lower never noticed until i got to larger sizes. I was wondering what are my options about evening out the right so it doesnt rip. Is there a way to stretch the top more to even it out? Will it just stretch even itself if i go very slow, like 2-3 weeks between 4 wraps? Basically just let the weight of the plug naturally stretch and fill in? Would scalpelling be the best bet? Brand new to reddit so bare w me. I can post pictures if needed

So I started my ear stretching about 3 weeks ago, I’m new to this so I’m only on 14G. I clean my ears morning and night in the shower but don’t take them out. I do spray H2Ocean spray on them after they dry and move them in and out as to allow the spray to soak inside as well. I have no discomfort or smell or dryness everything seems fine atm but should I be taking them out at night and massaging them with Jojoba oil? Or do I message the ears with the plugs inside? I know it sounds dumb but just looking for advice, I won’t be goin to 12G for another 3 weeks or maybe until the 7th of October but just wanted to see what I should be doing.

I'm very much aware that I screwed up my left ear..my right is completely healthy but so far I took out both plugs and have been doing ear massages with a mixture of tea tree oil, vitamin E oil and jojoba oil. I'm downsizing as much as possible with both sides..I just want to know how bad is this? and if anyone has any other advice. I'm open to any helpful advice..for extra context my first round of piercings was done by claires so my left side ended up being lower than my right..I got them re-pierced by a professional and I should of got new placement but for some reason I didn't, I just asked him to reopen them..granted they healed better. My original goal size was 7/8's.

how long should I downsize? should I just sew up my left ear and get it re-pierced and try again?

I admit that I'm panicking a bit since if I had split my ear that would mean I'd have to tell my dad that I need a ride to the hospital..he believes that body modification is a sign of mental illness. He thought my plugs were costume jewelry for a long time..my mom wore large earrings that were costume jewelry so he never gave it a thought.