Earstretching.net

I have a full set of plugs, tapers, and lots of PTFE tape. I was at a 14 ga two weeks ago and I've been adding a layer of PTFE tape every 4-5 days. I'm up to 12 ga plus a layer of tape around it. My ears don't feel sore or anything but this morning I woke up and the top edge of the hole had some dry skin around it and is a little red. I took the plug out immediately to start downsizing and I noticed slight flecks of blood crusties along with the normal crusties. I don't think I tore it when I initially put it in because I didn't force it in at all. I'm guessing I slept badly on top of my ear and plug and it irritated and slightly tore it possibly? I'm just really paranoid about blowouts, infections, and cat butt ever happening to my ear so I'm trying to be extra cautious because this is my first experience with stretching and there's so much I haven't seen before despite reading as much as I could.

Are you waiting between sizes or are you just adding tape every 4-5 days?
If you're not waiting between sizes, start. When you get to each size, stop for 6-8+ weeks before moving on.

Whenever I felt like the taped plug was no longer tight fitting I would add another layer of tape so that I never really waited longer than 5 days. I guess I will wait from now on. I assumed my body was adjusting well to the stretch so easily at such a small size so I would just continue stretching regularly and quickly.