AboutBrian Skellie Expertise I can answer questions in regards to and not limited to: jewelry safety, specifically material, shape, proportion, and related issues; aseptic technique and sterilization as it applies to piercing safety; ethical issues of technique and bedside manner; the aftercare and recovery process for piercings.
Experience
Past/Present clients
Tens of thousands of one on one client experiences. http://www.piercing.org/ Body jewelry design and safety expert: Member ASTM committee F04(www.astm.org)
Member AAMI (www.aami.org)
Research advisor and educator for the APP for over a decade(www.safepiercing.org) teaching advanced studio setup, sterilization and equipment management, freehand piercing, aseptic/sterile technique and much more.
Distributor for SciCan StatIM sterilization and cleaning products. http://www.piercing.org/statim/
Expert: Brian Skellie Date: 7/13/2008 Subject: Whats wrong about not using tapers
Question QUESTION: Hi, I recently went from a 00 to a 1/2 inch without using tapers (which i usually never do anyways). I bought some new 1/2 with flares on the sides. I tried puting them in,which was a struggle,but I think i might have ripped it a little bit because i did not get them in and it was bleeding alot. I was wondering if I should use tapers because i don't know why my ear would react to something that wasn't alot bigger.
Thanks for your time.
ANSWER: Consider my suggestions at www.piercing.org/faq/stretching.html
What you should do is get some intermediate sized jewelry and wait until they fit easily, such as 9/16 or 13 to 14mm plugs. Better yet, tapered spirals or claws instead to allow your piercings to open gradually. The flares on those eyelets may be 9/16 or larger, which would usually crush your piercings to try them on. It seems that you understand some of what is the problem, as they didn't fit and they were torn or crushed each time you enlarged them previously, which will cause pretty severe cumulative damages. Most people who use force to enlarge their piercings whether with tapers or without will find that the tissue thickens and scars, making it more difficult for future stretches or for removal and reinsertion of the jewelry.
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QUESTION: Thank you for the previous answer, but if I use a taper to go bigger than a 1/2 inch to fit over the flares comfortably then wouldn't my hole just shrink back to the 1/2 or would it feel really loose?
Thanks.
Answer If you go gently up with tapered jewelry for a few weeks, then put in the flares when they fit without stress, the holes should shrink a bit, enough to keep the flared pieces in place. I would suggest that you consider another set of plugs with smaller custom flares or to wear only single flared pieces at half inch until they stabilize.
