sandra-leigh
08-06-2009, 06:23 PM
I seem to heal faster than average -- including my ear piercings :(
My ears were pierced Jan 3rd, done at 14 gauge (Claires and similar stores that use the guns pierce smaller.) I find that if I wear standard stud earrings for about a week, that already my ears start to close up to the point where a dangle earring (especially one with a narrow wire) may "cut into" the healing ear... a bit of tenderness that I could do without (makes you want to take the dangle earrings off...) For me, even wearing straight studs for a week, I start to get a bit tender, as the holes start to heal around the studs.
Last night I talked to a clerk at a place that sells up to 00 gauge (wider than a standard pencil!). She said that up to about 0 gauge, the natural elasticity of the earlobe tended to shrink the hole and the body would tend to heal it up; at somewhere around 0 gauge, the body "gives up" and just leaves it open. So for something like a typical 18 gauge piercing, having the holes heal up completely is common unless you regularly wear something to keep the holes at the proper size.
What I find I need to do is from time to time, once every two weeks at least, switch to my 14 gauge "tunnels" for a couple of days; the ones I use are pretty innocuous and look very much like this picture (http://www.thailandbodyjewelry.com/retail/Surgical-stainless-steel-flesh-tunnel-numberPA-ER-PT-TU2-pr-19768.html) except those are for 2mm (which is about 12 gauge.) Even just wearing the tunnels overnight helps markedly, I have found.
Because my ears appear to heal faster than usual, I have started expanding from 14 gauge to 12 gauge, thus creating a larger hole that would take longer to heal up. An 18 gauge hole is not obvious unless someone is looking at your ears closely; a 14 gauge hole that is actually staying at 14 gauge might show a bit of a mark but it won't obviously be a hole (but for me, with the 14 gauge rapidly shrinking, if I don't put the tunnels in regularly enough, then even using a mirror I have to hunt for the hole and then the correct angle in the hole to put regular earrings in.) A fresh 12 gauge hole is someone more obvious -- though I'll have to see how it looks when my ears have fully adapted and healed to the 12 gauge.
I also bought the pieces I would need if I decide to work up to 10 gauge, if I find that the 12 gauge still heals too quickly on me (and I have some evidence that it does :( )
In general, you can apparently buy "sleeper earrings" which are small loops designed to pull back on the lobes a bit to keep the holes open while you sleep. I see a couple of them online; I don't recall ever having seen any sold here (but I can't say that I was looking for them.) Typical sleepers appear to be a relatively small thickness.
My ears were pierced Jan 3rd, done at 14 gauge (Claires and similar stores that use the guns pierce smaller.) I find that if I wear standard stud earrings for about a week, that already my ears start to close up to the point where a dangle earring (especially one with a narrow wire) may "cut into" the healing ear... a bit of tenderness that I could do without (makes you want to take the dangle earrings off...) For me, even wearing straight studs for a week, I start to get a bit tender, as the holes start to heal around the studs.
Last night I talked to a clerk at a place that sells up to 00 gauge (wider than a standard pencil!). She said that up to about 0 gauge, the natural elasticity of the earlobe tended to shrink the hole and the body would tend to heal it up; at somewhere around 0 gauge, the body "gives up" and just leaves it open. So for something like a typical 18 gauge piercing, having the holes heal up completely is common unless you regularly wear something to keep the holes at the proper size.
What I find I need to do is from time to time, once every two weeks at least, switch to my 14 gauge "tunnels" for a couple of days; the ones I use are pretty innocuous and look very much like this picture (http://www.thailandbodyjewelry.com/retail/Surgical-stainless-steel-flesh-tunnel-numberPA-ER-PT-TU2-pr-19768.html) except those are for 2mm (which is about 12 gauge.) Even just wearing the tunnels overnight helps markedly, I have found.
Because my ears appear to heal faster than usual, I have started expanding from 14 gauge to 12 gauge, thus creating a larger hole that would take longer to heal up. An 18 gauge hole is not obvious unless someone is looking at your ears closely; a 14 gauge hole that is actually staying at 14 gauge might show a bit of a mark but it won't obviously be a hole (but for me, with the 14 gauge rapidly shrinking, if I don't put the tunnels in regularly enough, then even using a mirror I have to hunt for the hole and then the correct angle in the hole to put regular earrings in.) A fresh 12 gauge hole is someone more obvious -- though I'll have to see how it looks when my ears have fully adapted and healed to the 12 gauge.
I also bought the pieces I would need if I decide to work up to 10 gauge, if I find that the 12 gauge still heals too quickly on me (and I have some evidence that it does :( )
In general, you can apparently buy "sleeper earrings" which are small loops designed to pull back on the lobes a bit to keep the holes open while you sleep. I see a couple of them online; I don't recall ever having seen any sold here (but I can't say that I was looking for them.) Typical sleepers appear to be a relatively small thickness.