Post by nossie on Nov 29, 2016 19:03:08 GMT
On 3rd of March 2013 I traveled to Individual Ink in Turku, Finland to get my earlobes cut by Lari. I had previously stretched poorly from 8-6-4 and 2ga with bad jewelry (plated steel and acrylic ) and too short wait times, after going naked and slowly going back up I couldn't get past 8ga despite using 7ga and waiting about 9 months total at 8ga - not including the naked time before that. (When I originally started stretching I spent about 6 months at each size going from 14ga to 12 to 10ga using steel jewelry.)
Here are some before and after pictures! I'm wearing GG ruby eyelets or "bulletholes" as they call them. As you can see, first one is with 8ga eyelets, and the second one is at 10mm (healed after the cutting, my initial jewelry was a pair of clear eyelets).
I followed the aftercare instructions which involved daily saline soaks and rinsing, sleeping and eating well. I also took care to keep the pillowcases clean using the "t-shirt trick", meaning that I had a t-shirt pulled over the pillow and I would flip it over so that I would have a clean surface against the ears. Though I mostly slept on my back at the time I had no problems laying on my side already during the first week after scalpelling.
I was cut from 3mm to 10mm, equalling a 7mm increase in size. This is on the extreme side of the spectrum and is not recommended if you are looking to ever so gently nudge the placement of your lobe piercings, increase the elasticity or if you have a determined goal size (mine was 5/8" 16mm but changed to 1"/25mm). Cutting this much at once might make your lobes overly elastic and that could be a problem where you would overshoot your goal!
After the initial healing my lobes did loosen very much and I could start going naked after showers pretty quickly. I also had trouble staying at the current sizes for long enough from 10mm to 13mm, resulting in a lot of naked time (all my free days pretty much) and size bouncing. I would stretch 1mm at a time and I tried very hard to stay at each size for at least 4-6 months. I was at 10mm for only 4 months - 6 is recommended, but it was impossible to keep the eyelets in for longer than that and 11mm soon started falling out as well. (I stayed at 1/2" for 9 months total and I often wore 11mm jewelry).
It's recommended to get cut at most 1mm at a time, and you should always make sure that whoever performs the procedure is an experienced professional!
Brace yourselves for pictures and the healing diary!
First update I made at the train station about it a few hours after the procedure:
I didn't need any painkillers, nor gauze on the train ride back home! They weren't hurting and they didn't bleed at all besides what was wiped away during the cutting. The cuts were made quite tightly so that the jewelry would help stop any bleeding, which worked throughout the healing period. The tapering hurt more than the cutting itself, just fyi!
The following photos was taken at home roughly 6 hours after the cutting.
The next ones are from the day after. I loved how you could see the cuts and the old fistula through the eyelets!
I was taking pictures of them every morning "looking for blood" But I didn't find any until day 3!
...very miniscule amounts.
I still had pretty much no pain at all even though the lobes were swollen.
Following photos are from day 5, my lobes didn't change much during the rest of the first week.
After the first week I got some irritation issues and had to revise my aftercare and cleaning routine, this update is from 28th of March 2013:
Photos from day 15, it's quite visible that there is more discharge under the jewelry again:
I asked our awesome community for some advice as the weeping wouldn't stop, and the pain and swelling was increasing after 5 weeks of healing. I ended up getting some new glass eyelets as titanium wasn't available in my size and I wanted to be 100% certain I wore the correct size since the cuts were still so fresh. After brainstorming with the other forum members we came to the conclusion that I should just be very careful with keeping my lobes and all things touching/around them clean.
Following quote and picture is from 17th of April 2013:
Update from 1st of May 2013:
Nudes at day 57!
And this is how they healed up! This photo is of them settled at 11mm but they look more or less the same if I go without plugs overnight or longer - which I do.
Finally, here they are at 15mm with clear glass eyelets and an angled picture to show how the cuts are entirely invisible and the fistulas have become a nice flesh-color
Thanks for reading and just let me know if you have any questions or comments about scalpelling
Here are some before and after pictures! I'm wearing GG ruby eyelets or "bulletholes" as they call them. As you can see, first one is with 8ga eyelets, and the second one is at 10mm (healed after the cutting, my initial jewelry was a pair of clear eyelets).
I followed the aftercare instructions which involved daily saline soaks and rinsing, sleeping and eating well. I also took care to keep the pillowcases clean using the "t-shirt trick", meaning that I had a t-shirt pulled over the pillow and I would flip it over so that I would have a clean surface against the ears. Though I mostly slept on my back at the time I had no problems laying on my side already during the first week after scalpelling.
I was cut from 3mm to 10mm, equalling a 7mm increase in size. This is on the extreme side of the spectrum and is not recommended if you are looking to ever so gently nudge the placement of your lobe piercings, increase the elasticity or if you have a determined goal size (mine was 5/8" 16mm but changed to 1"/25mm). Cutting this much at once might make your lobes overly elastic and that could be a problem where you would overshoot your goal!
After the initial healing my lobes did loosen very much and I could start going naked after showers pretty quickly. I also had trouble staying at the current sizes for long enough from 10mm to 13mm, resulting in a lot of naked time (all my free days pretty much) and size bouncing. I would stretch 1mm at a time and I tried very hard to stay at each size for at least 4-6 months. I was at 10mm for only 4 months - 6 is recommended, but it was impossible to keep the eyelets in for longer than that and 11mm soon started falling out as well. (I stayed at 1/2" for 9 months total and I often wore 11mm jewelry).
It's recommended to get cut at most 1mm at a time, and you should always make sure that whoever performs the procedure is an experienced professional!
Brace yourselves for pictures and the healing diary!
First update I made at the train station about it a few hours after the procedure:
It looks awesome! And it was, to me, the same kind of sensation as when you're pierced: something sharp going through the skin.
So first of all, the mod artist performing the procedure told me that i have great lobes for stretching, which made me pretty happy! Like my goal size will actually suit my anatomy.
He ended up making two cuts, one on each side of the existing holes to make sure it stays centered and tapered them to 10mm
He gave me some packed, sterile gauze for the train too so that I'd have something clean to wipe off the potential blood with. He's my new favorite piercer! :')
So first of all, the mod artist performing the procedure told me that i have great lobes for stretching, which made me pretty happy! Like my goal size will actually suit my anatomy.
He ended up making two cuts, one on each side of the existing holes to make sure it stays centered and tapered them to 10mm
He gave me some packed, sterile gauze for the train too so that I'd have something clean to wipe off the potential blood with. He's my new favorite piercer! :')
The following photos was taken at home roughly 6 hours after the cutting.
The next ones are from the day after. I loved how you could see the cuts and the old fistula through the eyelets!
I was taking pictures of them every morning "looking for blood" But I didn't find any until day 3!
...very miniscule amounts.
I still had pretty much no pain at all even though the lobes were swollen.
Following photos are from day 5, my lobes didn't change much during the rest of the first week.
After the first week I got some irritation issues and had to revise my aftercare and cleaning routine, this update is from 28th of March 2013:
The cuts are still visible inside the eyelets, but the redness doesn't appear bloody at all anymore and all the crusties are transparent. The lobes are feeling pretty sensitive when touched directly during cleaning or if they're pressed against something. Now I only wash them in the shower under running water and sometimes rinse them in salt solution when I feel like they've had a rough/dirty day.
I had some troubles after the first week of healing though that I'd like to mention here. I noticed my lobes got swollen again and were very tender with some pretty smelly and dark yellow discharge. I noticed it one morning before going to work so there was no time for soaking them to make me feel better so I sent a worried e-mail to Lari, who had cut my ears for me. I was always pretty susceptible to infection if I didn't take proper care of my wounds... so I decided to ask for advice as soon as possible.
Lari suggested that instead of mixing my own (possibly dirty) saline solution I'd buy a bottle of it from the pharmacy and instead of soaking, I'd be rinsing them with it 3-6 times a day. I had to make sure that the pillow and everything near my ears were as clean as possible, that I could use the t-shirt trick if needed.
He also said that I could spray some Septidin on it (which is an antiseptic solution containing water, alcohol and cetylpyridinium chloride) twice a day if I did indeed suspect it might get infected. If it wouldn't clear up within a week, I should go to a doctor.
So this is what I did, every day when I got up for work I'd spray the ears with the antiseptic solution and when I came home I'd be rinsing them with the saline solution, needless to say that the problems cleared themselves up in a matter of days. I'm pretty suspicious towards the cat since she really likes to sleep on my pillow, so even if I do change the pillowcase there will have been a dirty cat on it every day before I go to sleep. My scarf was probably also to blame as it was rubbing on my ears while I was driving to and from work, so I also wrapped that around me a little differently but avoid it whenever it's warm enough to not wear it at all.
So far so good after a little scare.
The healing continues c:
I had some troubles after the first week of healing though that I'd like to mention here. I noticed my lobes got swollen again and were very tender with some pretty smelly and dark yellow discharge. I noticed it one morning before going to work so there was no time for soaking them to make me feel better so I sent a worried e-mail to Lari, who had cut my ears for me. I was always pretty susceptible to infection if I didn't take proper care of my wounds... so I decided to ask for advice as soon as possible.
Lari suggested that instead of mixing my own (possibly dirty) saline solution I'd buy a bottle of it from the pharmacy and instead of soaking, I'd be rinsing them with it 3-6 times a day. I had to make sure that the pillow and everything near my ears were as clean as possible, that I could use the t-shirt trick if needed.
He also said that I could spray some Septidin on it (which is an antiseptic solution containing water, alcohol and cetylpyridinium chloride) twice a day if I did indeed suspect it might get infected. If it wouldn't clear up within a week, I should go to a doctor.
So this is what I did, every day when I got up for work I'd spray the ears with the antiseptic solution and when I came home I'd be rinsing them with the saline solution, needless to say that the problems cleared themselves up in a matter of days. I'm pretty suspicious towards the cat since she really likes to sleep on my pillow, so even if I do change the pillowcase there will have been a dirty cat on it every day before I go to sleep. My scarf was probably also to blame as it was rubbing on my ears while I was driving to and from work, so I also wrapped that around me a little differently but avoid it whenever it's warm enough to not wear it at all.
So far so good after a little scare.
The healing continues c:
Photos from day 15, it's quite visible that there is more discharge under the jewelry again:
I asked our awesome community for some advice as the weeping wouldn't stop, and the pain and swelling was increasing after 5 weeks of healing. I ended up getting some new glass eyelets as titanium wasn't available in my size and I wanted to be 100% certain I wore the correct size since the cuts were still so fresh. After brainstorming with the other forum members we came to the conclusion that I should just be very careful with keeping my lobes and all things touching/around them clean.
Following quote and picture is from 17th of April 2013:
Last week I took my pair of GG honey eyelets, which I washed with soap and inserted instead of the gunky clear eyelets. It was pretty hard to get the crusts out from behind the flare of the clear plugs so I decided to wear the honey ones while I scrub the others with soap and give them a soak in a disinfectant.
I've been cleaning my lobes about twice daily, once in the morning with just running water and once in the evening with mild soap during showers. My left ear is taking very well to that treatment and doesn't hurt when I clean the lobe, the right one is pretty sensitive though as it's the one that bled last week so I generally avoid using soap on the lobe itself and use it on just the eyelet.
So the left ear hardly weeps at all anymore, there's only a thin ring of crust visible on the eyelet when I remove it for cleaning and the right one has only a little that gets stuck on top of the o-ring as well. No more itching, no more redness and no more wetness.
I am very happy with that so far I do have some photos, but there's not much showing on them. I took them last Friday and they look more or less the same now, just feel different. Basically, that's how they look at day 30.
I've been cleaning my lobes about twice daily, once in the morning with just running water and once in the evening with mild soap during showers. My left ear is taking very well to that treatment and doesn't hurt when I clean the lobe, the right one is pretty sensitive though as it's the one that bled last week so I generally avoid using soap on the lobe itself and use it on just the eyelet.
So the left ear hardly weeps at all anymore, there's only a thin ring of crust visible on the eyelet when I remove it for cleaning and the right one has only a little that gets stuck on top of the o-ring as well. No more itching, no more redness and no more wetness.
I am very happy with that so far I do have some photos, but there's not much showing on them. I took them last Friday and they look more or less the same now, just feel different. Basically, that's how they look at day 30.
Update from 1st of May 2013:
it's day 50 of healing and I can now painlessly remove and re-insert jewelry! I was even able to have the eyelets out for long enough to clean them thoroughly with soap and water today. Both can easily withstand some tugging and gentle playing with at this point (I check while cleaning... sry) and the "wet ear" issue has been completely resolved!
I took some nude pics yesterday at day 49 of healing:
Leftie is doing great, and righty is feeling perfect even though it looks a little cranky, it was hit last weekend and bled a little again but after only a few days it healed up real well and wasn't tender anymore I'm really amazed at how speedy the healing suddenly got when I got rid of the wet ear symptoms.
At this point I'm washing them once a day, lobes with just water and the eyelets with soap.
The holes look a kind of asymmetrical here, but that's probably because I took the photos myself in a hurry...
I took some nude pics yesterday at day 49 of healing:
Leftie is doing great, and righty is feeling perfect even though it looks a little cranky, it was hit last weekend and bled a little again but after only a few days it healed up real well and wasn't tender anymore I'm really amazed at how speedy the healing suddenly got when I got rid of the wet ear symptoms.
At this point I'm washing them once a day, lobes with just water and the eyelets with soap.
The holes look a kind of asymmetrical here, but that's probably because I took the photos myself in a hurry...
Nudes at day 57!
And this is how they healed up! This photo is of them settled at 11mm but they look more or less the same if I go without plugs overnight or longer - which I do.
Finally, here they are at 15mm with clear glass eyelets and an angled picture to show how the cuts are entirely invisible and the fistulas have become a nice flesh-color
Thanks for reading and just let me know if you have any questions or comments about scalpelling