Working Your Way up in Size

Blue 6mm acrylic expander all the way through, 5mm steel tunnel at the back

Stretching your piercings a little bigger

Stretching your luggs From 4mm - 6mm

What I have done and used to go up a size or two ?

The Beginning 0-4mm

The first sretch I ever did was from an old hairdressers piercing to 4mm. I used an acrylic expander and it took a few days about a 4 days I guess all in. The firt quarter of the lenght of the expander is the worste. Your ear goes red swells a little and you've got loads of used expander sticking out of your ear looking stupid. Go in from the back not the front of your existing piercing, as a small spike looks cooler than 8 cm of expander. At night in the first two nights use a plaster (band aid) to stick the back long length of the expander to behind your ear, this will stop it falling or getting knocked out while you sleep ( it has happened to me as much as 3 times in one night).

Started on a friday night, by the saturday night I was a third of the way through with the ear expander. The sunday morning I took it out for a meeting it filled with goo and I noticed some puss it must have been a little infected. Surgical spirited it left it 12 hours used a needle to knock off the scab soaked the expander in spirits and put the expander back through. It went back through a t the same stretch as before it scabbed over. By Tuesday it was completely through all 4mm. Always clean the entire length of the expander before and after a push with salt water or spirits.

Up Sizing your already expanded piercings 1 size without a stretcher

Then I wanted a 5mm tunnel in I found a nice Black nut and bolt type flesh tunnel in 5mm. Any less than 5mm and you can't see through the hole very well. (There is a picture of it on this blogg somewhere). It had a screw back, you can usually squeeze on in one size bigger as long as it dosent have screw back without needing a new stretcher ( always wet the jewellry with salt water if you are up sizing it slips in easier I have found). On the Saturday I tried hard to fit it in no joy the thread messed th hole up a little to as well. So I bought a 6mm expander stretched the hole a little to what I guessed was about 5mm left it for 10 mins pulled it out and with a push got the 5mm tunnel in.

The top two mistakes I made

1. Up sizing with a screw back - the thread gets caught
2. Up sizing at under 2 weeks with out the used of an expander - 3 weeks for a body piercing

Up sizing your already expanded piercings with stretchers

I stretched from 0-4mm with the 4mm stretcher then switched to the 6mm stretcher. I began on the Thursday morning and with the 4mm was done by friday morning. Put the 6mm in the afternoon and was a 6mm by 11pm. The pain from the time I put the 6mm in till 11pm was bad loads of swelling and pains down my neck my ear was as fat as my thumb. So I took it out and put ice on took an ibro tablet a pain killer which has an anti inflam in it. The next day the hole was full of scab and still very swollen. The day after it had settled down the swelling. So stupid me I knock the scab off and with some saline soaked the 4mm stretcher and pushed it through ooch. Left it for 5mins and pushed a 5mm steel flesh tunnel through ( with no screw back). It swelled a little and was sore but settled with some ice. (The photo on this blogg with a blick tunnel and a steel one in is 2mins after I did it). I then left it 3 days and soaked the 6mm stretcher in saline and put it in fully no swelling no bother. Picture above is an hour after I did it.

I think I was over cleaning my stetcher with surgical spirits which added to the the swelling on my first attempt as I was moving it on all the time. 3 cleans a day should be enough.

I have never had much pain, swelling or any infection when I have baught and used steripods (sterile salt water / saline) you can buy them at any chemists they are used for cleaning of extenernal / internal pin sites and rods that fix broken legs etc.

The top 2 Mistakes I made :

1. I rushed it on too fast
2. Used to much surgical spirits - over cleaning

When is the best time to stretch ?

First thing in the morning after you clean it, get the scabs off and push you'll find the piercing gives really easily thats always the best stretch of the day. 3 pushes a day is more than enough it's good to give your ear time between each stretch for the swelling to ease up. The piercing will stretch just as fast that way as pushing a little all day. Pushing often increases the chance of infection, means you have to clean it alot which will cause anguish and more swelling also. Often also can = tearing as oposed to stretching, which can = not shrinking back well in the future when you get bored of them. I know it's tempting and fun to push often but leave it alone !!!