Earstretching.net

I have a habit of moving and playing with my jewelry. I think this started because when I had my ear pierced they said to turn it daily so it would not grow to the ear. Since on this site I have read a lot about not moving the jewelry and in fact that if barbell too long and moving may be enough to cause problems. I did in fact have one hole which kept giving me problems, and after reading post I tried putting in shorter barbell and the problem went away. I have also tried to quit removing my plug to clean daily for at least one month for healing. This too has seemed to help a lot. I have been doing research online about this issue and have found some good articles like these.

http://poundedink.com/dont-play-with-your-piercings/

http://www.modifybodypiercing.com/aftercare.html


I have had a lot of helpful advice and learned so much from this site that I wanted to be able to give some back.

I hope this helps some one like it has me.

That is very good advice. Sometimes my friends will get a new piercing and tell me "It's so sore and I think it's infected!" and the first thing I'll ask is "are you playing with it?" No one believes me because a lot of dodgy piercers tell them to do that so they'll take their word over mine. One of my roommates recently had her lip pierced for a second time and she had to take it out again because she thought it was infected. Really it was just pissed off because she couldn't stop messing with it.

I think the myth of turning jewelry came along because with piercing guns, those awful studs with the backs are usually pretty tight and some people actually have issues with the skin growing over the back because there's no room for swelling. But if you have appropriate jewelry, movement or "playing with it" is the number one reason piercings get irritated.

I do not know what the rule or recommendation is on standard size piercing but I know that on a large gauge piercing they advise not to turn the tunnel or plug as this can damage the new tissue that grows over and heals the cut.

But from personal experience after a few weeks of stretching I do turn them slowly to see if there is any catching, I do also spray regularly with a product available in the UK called Savlon Wound Wash and this has been such a wonder and has enabled my stretched lobe to heal relatively quickly.

Another word of advice which is worth keeping in mind that hands and fingers can contain lots of germs so if you are going to be playing or turning your jewellery after a newish stretch I would highly recommend washing your hands with an Antibacterial Handwash before hand.

I hope this is interesting !

Warmest Regards
Dr Rob.

I totally agree with everything said here.
Healing a piercing is like cooking rice. You put it in the boiling water and LEAVE IT THE FUCK ALONE. You'll notice it yourself, if you keep stirring rice to stop it from "sticking" to the bottom of the pan, it will actually take longer to cook than if you just leave it alone.

The only piercer I know of that has said you need to leave a piercing alone is the chick that pierced my fiance's tongue. She said the only time you should move it is after you've eaten to make sure you get food out of the piercing so it doesn't get infected.

I've also heard a lot of piercers say "You need to slide the jewelry back and forth when cleaning to get the salt solution/soap/whatever inside the hole." But that's where sea salt soaks come in... the heat draws lymph out of the piercing so it cleans it from the inside out without needing to move the jewelry at all.

StrickyCub wrote:I totally agree with everything said here.
Healing a piercing is like cooking rice. You put it in the boiling water and LEAVE IT THE FUCK ALONE. You'll notice it yourself, if you keep stirring rice to stop it from "sticking" to the bottom of the pan, it will actually take longer to cook than if you just leave it alone.

The only piercer I know of that has said you need to leave a piercing alone is the chick that pierced my fiance's tongue. She said the only time you should move it is after you've eaten to make sure you get food out of the piercing so it doesn't get infected.

Is it sad that I had to teach my wife that? She was always at the stove stirring rice for years until I FINALLY made rice myself to show her that I hadn't been blowing smoke up her ass the last 4 years.

Anyway, yes, in a fresh piercing, absolutely leave it alone. Just do your SSS and LITHA/LITFA, depending on your explicit language usage. I have a problem now with my vertical labret. I chew on the thing like no other, and did so quite a bit during healing, and at one point, I was about a couple hours away from retiring it because it was so jacked up. It's healed now, but now I'm more worried about gapping my teeth.

This is the reason I started I pierced with gun and have seen friends skin grow over the back I too was told move jewelry while cleanning. Thus why I say all of this can be confusing move do not move, tapers go 14g to 8g some tell you fine but it is not. Some people stretch fast and ok others no way. I realy understand why people make big mistakes.

ugh i got my ears pierced with that godforsaken gun for my 7th birthday in one of those claires boutiques. skin ended up fucking with my right ear cause it was on so damned tight. i remember sitting in the bathroom with my mom some weeks later trying to get it off of / out of my ear. basically ripped it out and still have problems with this ear to date.