Camera PV 2007 » 35mm Film » Define well healed…
Define well healed…
Question:
[Delurk] I got my first pierce a week ago. Nothing exciting, just an earlobe. I got it pierced at 18 gauge and I’d like to begin stretching it as soon as possible. I know, I know… READ THE FAQ. I did. It says, "Only well healed piercings should be stretched." Can someone define well-healed? Also, do I need to use an insertion taper to go from 18 to 16 gauge? And how long do I need to wait before stretching it to a 14 and so on? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Casey "whose lack of elaborate signature seems to be unique" Barber
Response:
: [Delurk] Welcome. Glad to have you. 
: I got my first pierce a week ago. Nothing exciting, just an : earlobe. I got it pierced at 18 gauge and I’d like to begin : stretching it as soon as possible. I know, I know… READ THE : FAQ. I did. It says, "Only well healed piercings should be : stretched." Can someone define well-healed? Well healed generally means that there is no unhealed skin in the pierce hole, that all signs of healing such as crussties have ceased. Give it a few months at least. : Also, do I need to use an insertion taper to go from 18 to : 16 gauge? And how long do I need to wait before stretching it to : a 14 and so on? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! It’s generally believed that you shouldn’t stretch more than 2 guages at a time. I wouldn’t go more than one. And I would use a taper, even just goin from 18 to 16. Ciao. — Nick Baban * "Yes I am a pirate, 200 years too late. The X-Phile, Writer, * plunder…" – Jimmy Buffett R.A.B.bit, Wannabe-* LIVE HARD, TYPE FAST, DIE TATTOOED! -N.P.B. pirate * DISBAND THE BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, AND FIREARMS!!!!!
Response:
: : I got my first pierce a week ago. Nothing exciting, just an : : earlobe. I got it pierced at 18 gauge and I’d like to begin : : stretching it as soon as possible. I know, I know… READ THE : : FAQ. I did. It says, "Only well healed piercings should be : : stretched." Can someone define well-healed? The piercing must complete both cycles of healing – the first involves the discharge and scabbing bit, the second a toughening of the interior of the piercing. You want the skin inside the piercing to be as tough as the skin on the rest of your body… Even so, stretched piercings often get irritatd, and it’s best to clean them for a week afterwards, once a day. And next time why not go for a larger piercing to start with? — * Ardvark * Anne Greenblatt Piercing FAQ Manager for rec.arts.bodyart > Piercing Exquisite < *
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>[Delurk] > I got my first pierce a week ago. Nothing exciting, just an >earlobe. I got it pierced at 18 gauge and I’d like to begin >stretching it as soon as possible. I know, I know… READ THE >FAQ. I did. It says, "Only well healed piercings should be >stretched." Can someone define well-healed?
longer than a week i would say at least six weeks for an earlobe. let it heal where there’s no more crusties and to be safe i would wait a couple of more weeks to let it settle in and "season," where it’s not sore or cranky even if you catch it on something or sleep on it, or the like. > Also, do I need to use an insertion taper to go from 18 to >16 gauge? And how long do I need to wait before stretching it to >a 14 and so on? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
well, with an earlobe, you can really just wear heavy earrings and it will stretch pretty easily. you shouldn’t need an insertion taper for such a small guage i think. when i decided to start stretching my earlobe pierces (they were about 8-9 years old ) i forced a 16ga ring into them (i am *not* recommending this, just telling you what i did) and they were not really happy for a day or two. then i would pull on them, hang weights from them and so forth. they went up a couple of guages really quickly, and i didn’t start using insertion tapers (i actually just go to my piercer and he stretches them for me) until i got up to 8ga. i’m going pretty slow in stretching mine though. if you’re looking to do it faster there are others (boy brent, julian, i think) who have stretched their pierces out much more quickly than i am doing mine. noel — "You are too beautiful for the wind "I’m a poor tattered thing, but not unkind To the sad dancer and the dancing dead." -Sidney Keyes
Response:
Newsgroups: rec.arts.bodyart Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington Lines: 128 NNTP-Posting-Host: apple-ip-26.ucs.indiana.edu >[Delurk] > I got my first pierce a week ago. Nothing exciting, just an >earlobe. I got it pierced at 18 gauge and I’d like to begin >stretching it as soon as possible.
You should let it heal to the point that the skin does not hug the stud – where it is slightly loose. (This in general is a good rule with respect to stretching.) > Also, do I need to use an insertion taper to go from 18 to >16 gauge? And how long do I need to wait before stretching it to >a 14 and so on? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! > well, with an earlobe, you can really just wear heavy earrings and > it will stretch pretty easily. you shouldn’t need an insertion > taper for such a small guage i think.
IMHO an 18 ga piercing is too small a ga to stretch out by weight on them. The gauge is so small there is a real danger the weight will slice through the ear rather than enlarge the hole. I would not try weights with anything smaller than 16 ga. >when i decided to start > stretching my earlobe pierces (they were about 8-9 years old ) > i forced a 16ga ring into them (i am *not* recommending this, > just telling you what i did) and they were not really happy for > a day or two. then i would pull on them, hang weights from them > and so forth. they went up a couple of guages really quickly, > and i didn’t start using insertion tapers (i actually just go to > my piercer and he stretches them for me) until i got up to 8ga.
Umm, even here there are dangers in using weights to stretch. I have a 10 ga ring in the fleshy skin at the rear of my right ear part way up (where there is an indentation in the cartilege – this is NOT a cartilege piercing) and mere weight of the SSS captive bead ring has caused the hold to migrate downward considerably. But the hole is no larger – as it moves down, the skin closes in above. > i’m going pretty slow in stretching mine though. if you’re looking > to do it faster there are others (boy brent, julian, i think) who > have stretched their pierces out much more quickly than i am > doing mine.
Umm, I described how I did mine in the FAQ. Only the first stretch (from an initial 6 ga piercing) went two sizes (4 ga.) The subsequent stretches (it is now at 00 ga) have been done one size ( 2 gauges) at a time. I only wear earlets in my holes, because any metal 00 rings or studs would quickly stretch the ear very rapidly. I wonder (at that size) whether the stretch would retain the symmetry of the hole? (and I’m not sure how much bigger I want my ears to go). Does anybody have experience using weights to stretch earlobes at these large guages? I originally saw large stretched ear piercings years ago in East Africa when I lived for a few weeks with the Massai. Several Morani [warriers] had their ears strethed enough to insert Kodak 35mm film cans [the old metal screw cap ones, not the current plastic ones] in which they would carry their tobacco/snuff. Some of them stretched them out with taperd wooden plugs, but one guy (the village chief) had a really neat way of doing it. He had a piece consisting of a piece of metal shaped like a spread cotter key with tapered lead weights attached to the end. It looked sort of like this *** * * * O * <- wire loop * * * * * * * * * * * * <- Weights * * * * ****** ****** Let the O be the bottom loop of the already large hole in the ear (his hole was say 1" or more in diameter) Then the wire loop surrounds the bottom loop of skin and the weights hang below the ear. The weights are squeezed together so that there is no danger of the piece flying oujt as one wresteles/tends the cattle. The advantage of the device was that it continued to apply weight to the pierciong – slowly stretching it out – but a controlled amount of weight far less than any solid plug an inch to 1.5 inch would do. I thought it was a pretty neat way to do a controlled stretch and that I might try it if I ever decide to go to really big holes like the Masaii. PFIQ #6 (the pages are unnumbered but it is the page before the inside back cover) has a photo of a Sarawak woman with lobes stretched till they hang to the chest. In them are heavy silver rivited on ornaments similar to what I described but much larger than what the masaii was wearing. His piece was around an inch high. This hanging weight technique looks to be a lot easier to do than the rather complex one of graduated metal tubes with successive layers of electical tape to build them up to the next size that Fakir describes in PFIQ #18 (see issue #17 for a letter containing an enlargment table). One thing thjat struck me about the masaii was that despite the prevalence of very large ear stretchings I saw no ear holes that had torn open. My hunch is that the keys are to use significant weights substantially less than filling the current stretched hole would require and having the weight-bearing part (the wire loop above) sufficintly wide that there is no danger of cutting the bottom of the lobe loop (as happens if small gauge earrings are pulled or tugged or has happened in the migration in my 10 ga piece). My hunch is that one wouldn’t want to try this weight technique until you had holes at least a 1/4" – perhaps larger. But I don’t have first hand experience here – just observations of the Masaii. Does anybody have experience with really large earlobe stretchings? Julian Hurt "Now that it is denied them, people realize how romantic promiscuity was. Gay life without the sex is a theme park." -Andrew Holleran "Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess." -Hunter S. Thompson http://bronze.ucs.indiana.edu/~cpstone/Julian/Julian_Hurt.html
Response:
Newsgroups: rec.arts.bodyart Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington Lines: 34 NNTP-Posting-Host: apple-ip-26.ucs.indiana.edu > And next time why not go for a larger piercing to start with?
Good Advice! Each location has a reasonable maximum-size reasonable pierce. (For many locations it is 10 ga., but piercing needles go up to 6 ga. and larger initial piercings have been done with dermal punches. I quickly learned to begin at the largest reasonable size sicne I find I’m such a size queen I keep stretching them out. E.g., I’ve stretched my ampalang twice now (to 10 ga.) I wish I’d pierced it initially at 10 rather than at 12. The biggest restriction on initial size seems to be to leave enough surrounding tissue to get proper healing and adequate strength for the holding whatever will be inserted in the pierce. E.g., I wouldn’t punch my ears out to 00 immediately since that would leave too little skin surrounding the hole. But 6 ga. was a good starting point and then stretching out form there. Julian Hurt "Now that it is denied them, people realize how romantic promiscuity was. Gay life without the sex is a theme park." -Andrew Holleran "Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess." -Hunter S. Thompson http://bronze.ucs.indiana.edu/~cpstone/Julian/Julian_Hurt.html
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On the stretching yer earlobe question..i just put a 16 gauge in my ear from a normal little 20 gauge earring with absolutly no problem. I just put some neosporin on it and stuck it in and it didn’t hurt at all. Of course i’ve had that lobe pierced for about 15 years,so it was as healed as can be. so going to a 16 gauge should be no problem. -TIrza — "early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy but socially dead" -Animaniacs
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>[Delurk] > I got my first pierce a week ago. Nothing exciting, just an >earlobe. I got it pierced at 18 gauge and I’d like to begin >stretching it as soon as possible. I know, I know… READ THE >FAQ. I did. It says, "Only well healed piercings should be >stretched." Can someone define well-healed?
YMMV, but I think of my piercings as healed when I don’t get crusties, redness, or itching…and I wait another month. That way I am sure they are healed and "seasoned." > Also, do I need to use an insertion taper to go from 18 to >16 gauge? And how long do I need to wait before stretching it to >a 14 and so on? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
A taper will make it easier, but it might not be necessary…I stretched my PA’s from 14->12 ga. without one…remember, anytime you stretch a pierce…with or without a taper…go slow and use a lubricant. >Casey "whose lack of elaborate signature seems to be unique" Barber
Uh oh…Joe’s gonna give you hell for that .sig… =:-} =:-} — William "Wild Bill" Corona "I’d rather be hunted as a wolf than slaughtered like a sheep…"
Response:
>> > Also, do I need to use an insertion taper to go from 18 to > >16 gauge? And how long do I need to wait before stretching it to > >a 14 and so on? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! > well, with an earlobe, you can really just wear heavy earrings and > it will stretch pretty easily. you shouldn’t need an insertion > taper for such a small guage i think. >IMHO an 18 ga piercing is too small a ga to stretch out by >weight on them. The gauge is so small there is a real danger the >weight will slice through the ear rather than enlarge the hole. I would >not try weights with anything smaller than 16 ga.
i agree. but i wasn’t really talking about hanging weights from the pierce. i expect i was being slightly unclear. i was thinking of the regular sort of everyday earring pierce (which is somewhere between 20 and 18ga, yes?) and how most people’s will stretch a little if they wear costume jewelry in them for any amount of time. that is, larger earrings, not weights. pardon my lack of clarity. > and i didn’t start using insertion tapers (i actually just go to > my piercer and he stretches them for me) until i got up to 8ga. >Umm, even here there are dangers in using weights to stretch. I >have a 10 ga ring in the fleshy skin at the rear of my right ear >part way up (where there is an indentation in the cartilege – this >is NOT a cartilege piercing) and mere weight of the SSS captive bead >ring has caused the hold to migrate downward considerably. But the >hole is no larger – as it moves down, the skin closes in above.
hmm. i wear eyelets in mine so i don’t have to worry about a constant weight hanging on them, but i do occasionally hang things from them for short periods of time. mine don’t appear to have migrated (whew). >I only wear earlets in my holes, because any metal 00 rings or studs >would quickly stretch the ear very rapidly. I wonder (at that size) >whether the stretch would retain the symmetry of the hole?
by symmetry do you mean the roundness of the hole? i think at some point the hole ceases to be very round, more teardrop-shaped, but the jewelry shapes the hole. or maybe i’m not understanding your question. noel — "You are too beautiful for the wind "I’m a poor tattered thing, but not unkind To the sad dancer and the dancing dead." -Sidney Keyes
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Delurk. Just got my first pierce, 2 lobes. 20 ga. This was a few days ago. I own 18 ga. studs that I want to put in as soon as possible. Am I correct that the general consensus here says to wait 2 months before putting an 18 ga. stud in a 20 ga. earlobe? BTW, I clean them twice daily with bactine, and I’ve been putting Triple Antibiotic ointment in there and rotating the rings a bit. It’s hard to avoid brushing against them however. The piercers at Venus in NYC said not to use any ointment, but the FAQ suggests it. They felt it prevents drainage. I just want to get this tedious healing over with so I can stick fun things in there! Charles
Response:
>Just got my first pierce, 2 lobes. 20 ga. This was a few days ago. I own 18 ga. > studs that I want to put in as soon as possible. Am I correct that the general >consensus here says to wait 2 months before putting an 18 ga. stud in a 20 ga. > earlobe?
Actually, the easiest way to get a quick start on stretching is to dermal punch with a 2mm, which is minimal skin removal, but releases the surface tension. Immediatlely slide in (with an insertion taper) a 4ga or 6ga. If you have larger lobes you can punch with a 2.5mm or 3mm and insert a 2ga. With those heavy rings, your ear will stretch itself, and dermal punched lobes heal beautifully. BME: Body Modification Ezine http://www.io.org/~glider/bme.html
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>>Just got my first pierce, 2 lobes. 20 ga. This was a few days ago. I own 18 >ga. > studs that I want to put in as soon as possible. Am I correct that the >general >consensus here says to wait 2 months before putting an 18 ga. stud in a 20 ga. > earlobe? >Actually, the easiest way to get a quick start on stretching is to dermal >punch with a 2mm, which is minimal skin removal, but releases the surface >tension. Immediatlely slide in (with an insertion taper) a 4ga or 6ga. If you >have larger lobes you can punch with a 2.5mm or 3mm and insert a 2ga. >With those heavy rings, your ear will stretch itself, and dermal punched >lobes heal beautifully.
Actually I only want 18 ga. holes. But interestingly enough the day after I wrote that, I read a blurb about the old Burmese who, when piercing a girl’s ears, would expand the holes to a rather large size (.5 in? One in.?) over the course of a few days. I could get the text if asked.
BME: Body Modification Ezine http://www.io.org/~glider/bme.html
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>Actually I only want 18 ga. holes. But interestingly enough the day after I >wrote that, I read a blurb about the old Burmese who, when piercing a girl’s >ears, would expand the holes to a rather large size (.5 in? One in.?) over the >course of a few days. I could get the text if asked.
You are asked… I didn’t know they went up that far in a few days. BME: Body Modification Ezine http://www.io.org/~glider/bme.html