Though I have had my ears pierced and stretched for only a ear, I have wanted large stretched lobes ever since seeing one in a photograph in 9th grade. This would be no easy feat, as I was without much lobe; I was even surprised I was able to stretch up to 7/16" with what little lobe with which I had to work. 7/16" seemed still too small for me, so the only way I would be getting any bigger would be to scalpel.
At A Glance Author elasticrock Contact elasticrock@bme.anon IAM elasticrock When It just happened Artist Lysa Studio Industrial Tattoo Location Berkeley, CA I asked Lysa at Industrial about it months before getting it done, and she said she'd be able to do the procedure. She ordered some 5/8" and 1/2" single flared pyrex eyelets, and I waited for her to come back from Burning Man and for the eyelets to arrive. The eyelets arrived before Lysa returned, so I anxiously waited until I could ask her again to set up an appointment for the actual procedure. I went into Industrial on Wednesday and scheduled the procedure for Friday at 5:30.
Friday finally rolled around, and I met up with my friend who would be accompanying me for the procedure. We went down to get some yummy Thai food and lolled around town for a bit, since it was only 5. At 5:15, we arrived at Industrial, and the shop was packed. Lysa had a pair of ear lobes to do and then she'd be ready. While we waited, we perused the lovely literature i.e. Maxim. The wait wasn't too long but long enough to get me pumped; I was grinning like a fool in love. I filled out the form and handed Lysa my ID, all that pre-procedure jazz. I sat on the table as Lysa was disinfecting everything and measuring out and marking how much she would need to cut. By this time, I was ready to explode with excitement and still wearing a silly grin. The autoclave was done doing its thing, and we were all ready to go.
The tapers were really hot when they first came out of the autoclave, and Lysa was awesome and rolled the burning tapers in her hand to cool them down. We chatted about horror stories on BME, especially ones concerning hot tapers used in scalpelling procedures; I'm really thankful that Lysa was not evil to sear my bloody lobe with a hot taper. The tapers eventually cooled down, and I laid down with my left ear towards her. My friend whipped out my camera and started snapping what seemed like a million photos. Lysa talked through the procedure as she was doing each step. She clamped my ear and told me to take deep breaths. On my exhale, I felt the scalpel cut into my ear. The pain was nonexistent, just stinging similar to any other piercing. It took a little longer to get a little tag of skin off, but after that, she put in the 1/2" taper. I definitely felt the taper go in, but it was nothing bad. She said that 1/2" was as far as she was going to go, and that was fine by me. My left lobe bled minimally, and after a few short seconds of cleaning up, we moved onto the right lobe.
My right lobe has always been my bitchy lobe; it started bleeding randomly a few days after I got it pierced. It would still be the bitchy lobe. Lysa did the same clamp and cut for my right lobe, but this time I didn't feel the taper. I did, however, feel the warmth that was blood dripping from my ear. Lysa said that my right lobe was easier to cut, but it was still the bitchy lobe, as she had to put pressure on it manually to stop the bleeding. The bleeding slowed, but it was still dripping when I sat up. I looked into the mirror and loved what I saw: one pristine lobe and one super bloody dripping lobe. Lysa cleaned up a little more, and my right lobe was still dripping blood. She taped some gauze to my ear to catch the blood, and I walked out to the front counter still grinning like the village idiot. Lysa charged me a little less than 100 for the whole thing, but since she was so good for the whole procedure, I gave her 125.
Though it's been only a day since the procedure, my ears feel fine. They were a little sore when I first left Industrial, but now I'm not feeling much at all; my right lobe is still caked with blood, but I don't mind. I'm really anxious for when I can start stretching my lobes again. Lysa was really awesome for the procedure and made it really comfortable for me. I would highly recommend going to Lysa at Industrial, whether it be for scalpelling or any other piercing (she pierced my nipples a few months before). As for scalpelling, the pain is more than tolerable, and the procedure is pretty quick if your practitioner is experienced. Just be sure that you are willing to commit to large lobes.