I had been wrapping a pair of double zero gauge acrylic plugs for months now. I was nearing the ½ inch point when I thought to my self that there had to be a quicker but not real more expensive way to make my lobes bigger. I am addicted to stretching my lobes but think that the price of doing so is a little high for me. And my goal is to get them to an inch.
At A Glance Author xstealxmyxsanityx Contact xstealxmyxsanityx@hotmail.com IAM xstealxmyxsanityx When Six months ago Artist Jeff Studio Bee Cool Location Calgary, AB Canada A piercing shop had opened a block away from mine and my roommates' place that I had not really heard good things about at first. When they opened they had a sale on piercing and jewelry. My roommates went and had a variety of body parts pierced at a reasonable price. All was well with the healing process and they were more than happy with their piercings.
One of my roommates (knowing that I wanted to stretch my ears) told me of a "stretching plan" that this new shop offered. Peaking my curiosity I decided to go to the shop for myself and check it out.
The name of this shop was Bee Cool. It was a small 2 story house at the end of our street painted bright yellow. It definitely stood out pretty well.
When I walked in I was greeted by the Owner Rob whom I introduced myself to and proceeded to ramble on about the "stretching program" that I had heard about. He directed me upstairs to the tattoo rooms where Jeff was hanging out with male tattoo artist Carey. I told him the size that I wanted to go to. He explained that the "stretching program" allowed me to purchase my final jewelry size now and stretch up to that size monthly (or when I was healed enough) until I reached my goal. This sounded to good to be true. It kind of was. I did not like the idea of using reused jewelry, even if I did see that they used an autoclave. Jeff informed me that he did not have the tapers large enough to go to an inch and was not sure if he wanted to purchase a taper that large since he figured he would only use it the one time, since most of his customers were into the routine eyebrow or nostril piercings. So I left a little dismayed.
After a couple weeks I went back to the shop with my roommate because she wanted to have some jewelry down-sized for one of her piercings.
I was talking to Jeff again and he mentioned that if I really wanted to have my ears stretched that big I could consider another method: scalpelling. Jeff explained that he would cut out parts of my ear in a triangle shape to increase the diameter of my ear. Since I thought this pretty dramatic for myself to even consider I told him that I would think about it first.
When I got home I immediately logged on to BME to get some information about this procedure of ear cutting (or scalpelling). I found that after looking through pictures and reading a few experiences I was less afraid of going up this path. Everyone seems to be happy with their choice of having their ears cut. Though I did kind of see it as a short cut to an experience of ones self. I mainly thought about the final picture. I had been wrapping plugs for months and months and I just wanted it done already. So that pretty much finalized it.
It took a few weeks before I got up the nerve to make my appointment with Jeff at Bee Cool. We discussed again the procedure and safety measures that would be used. We agreed that I would only go to ¾ of an inch instead of the full inch because I was pretty nervous of cutting that much.
So Jeff custom made my tunnels and a couple weeks later I was at Bee Cool with My roommate Heather and our close friend Sarah. I do not think that the entire experience fully hit me until I was in the chair and watching Jeff wash his hands, put on gloves, and set up all of his supplies. Everything was in sealed packages like in a hospital. He was pretty well organized. It relaxed me a little.
I think that I handled the entire procedure pretty well considering that there is no being put under for this, it is straight bloody and at times the worst pain I have ever felt. We started with my left ear and honestly though the first cut I did not really feel. It was more like having your ear pierced. But I did feel the blood trickle down my neck immediately. It was warm and thick. Then after the second cut and what almost felt like sawing, my adrenaline started to wear off. My ear was throbbing and I wanted to cry and not go through with the other ear. Heather and Sarah were in the room with me for support. Heather thought that if she asked Jeff just how many of these procedures he had done it would soothe me better. Well it did not because his reply was "I am just about to do my second". I laughed through my tears and I don't know I just went with it.
The right ear was a lot more painful and longer to do than the left one. Even though he did open a second scalpel for the second ear it felt like he was using the same one. The experience this time was a lot more in detail. I felt it a lot more. Jeff did have trouble fitting the tunnel in this ear and had to re-cut a couple times to have it fit snugly. I think that is why it was more painful.
The entire procedure from me getting in the chair to his putting on the final o ring took about forty five minutes to an hour. I asked if I could keep my bits of flesh that he removed from my ears. He put the little pieces of flesh and one of the scalpel blades into a tiny closable plastic baggy for me to keep. I sat in the chair for about 20 minutes while he cleaned as much of the blood as he could. I was petrified of moving and hitting my ears off my shoulder or getting my hair caught. You seem to be more aware of a body part and just how much you use it or hit it when it has been freshly pierced or in my case cut. I was fine though I did not faint and I did not throw up. So after Jeff explained the after care to me I paid and thanked him and Rob again for the experience.
The walk home, though it was only a block, was the longest walk of my life. Just breathing hurt my ears. Standing perfectly still hurt my ears. It hurt. Heather and Sarah laughed at me and called me crazy.
The healing process was oddly quick for me. My ears were sensitive and swollen for only a couple days. Then after that they did not hurt and were easier to clean. I myself after having the piercings that I have, know how my body will react to cleaning methods. I simply used salt water or saline solution to rinse the area. I did not turn the jewelry or take it out completely for at least 3 weeks. I was scared of irritating it. I do not recommend my cleaning methods to anyone and that you should consult your piercer with any questions.