Source: my own ears and my own photo Submitter comment: This was my ear a few months ago. Despite only being a few rounds of tape away from being at 1 3/8”, I had wooden plugs that I got back over the summer that I couldn’t wait to put in. So I decided to be an idiot and shove the plug through my ear. It immediately started burning, and turned very red and became sore. I tried to take the plug out, but it was actually stuck in my ear. Since I had to shower, I couldn’t wear wooden plugs. After minutes of tugging on my ear, I finally ripped the plug out and a mess of blood came with it. I tore my ear along the whole right side of the inside of my lobe, blew it out, and had to clean puss and dried blood off my neck for a very long time. Why it’s awful: Impatient stretching, and trying to force a plug in when my ear clearly wasn’t ready. Using wood in a freshly stretched lobe. Very, VERY angry looking too. How it can be fixed: I downsized back to a little over 3/4, did sea salt soaks, and waited for my ears to completely heal before I started taping up again. Luckily for me, my ear stretched up pretty quickly because I had downsized so much, the blowout disappeared, and my ears are now healthily at 1 3/8” again. Take this as a lesson, stretching up quickly IS NOT fun. At all. 
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Source: my own ears and my own photo

Submitter comment: This was my ear a few months ago. Despite only being a few rounds of tape away from being at 1 3/8”, I had wooden plugs that I got back over the summer that I couldn’t wait to put in. So I decided to be an idiot and shove the plug through my ear. It immediately started burning, and turned very red and became sore. I tried to take the plug out, but it was actually stuck in my ear. Since I had to shower, I couldn’t wear wooden plugs. After minutes of tugging on my ear, I finally ripped the plug out and a mess of blood came with it. I tore my ear along the whole right side of the inside of my lobe, blew it out, and had to clean puss and dried blood off my neck for a very long time.

Why it’s awful: Impatient stretching, and trying to force a plug in when my ear clearly wasn’t ready. Using wood in a freshly stretched lobe. Very, VERY angry looking too.

How it can be fixed: I downsized back to a little over 3/4, did sea salt soaks, and waited for my ears to completely heal before I started taping up again. Luckily for me, my ear stretched up pretty quickly because I had downsized so much, the blowout disappeared, and my ears are now healthily at 1 3/8” again. Take this as a lesson, stretching up quickly IS NOT fun. At all. 

My Own Story

Source: My photo, my ears

SUBMITTER COMMENT:  

What’s awful: I got these done when I was really young at Claire’s and they are horribly crooked. The left photo is fine, that’s how I wanted these piercings to turn out. The right photo just makes me want to cry. Both ears look completely different. It’s like the lady who pierced the second holes was blind or something… it’s so obvious how wonky they are. 

How it can be fixed: I talked to a professional piercer who said he could definitely make another hole between the first and second, where the original second was SUPPOSED to be. NEVER GET YOUR EARS DONE AT CLAIRE’S, OR ANY OTHER PLACE THAT USES A GUN AND DOESN’T TRAIN ITS STAFF. You could end up with depressingly lopsided ears like mine. :(

A shop recommendation, and my undying love for your blog!

STATE (and city):  Rochester, NY
Name of the shop and the artist you dealt with:  Dorje Adornments (And they have a tumblr! Follow, follow!) and I was pierced by Nick
What you had done:  Scaffold/Industrial
WHY you’d recommend them:  It healed PERFECTLY except for the usual scaffold bar issue. I swapped it out for two short pieces and it’s doing just fine, and soon the long barbell will be back in my happy, healthy hole :) Nick is an absolute teddybear, a very kind person who knows his stuff (I got a bro-hoof from him because of my Brony shirt! Bronies unite!) I give his shop info to EVERYONE I know from school who wants any sort of piercing. and as soon as my best friend turns 15 (I’ll almost be 17 when that happens… i feel old, despite only being 16) me and her mother are going to take her there for her nostril piercing :)

And now, why i love you, awfulmods. Thanks for supplying me with the resources to do everything right. Thanks to you I knew what to do when I grappled with the bump on my scaffold, how to stretch my ears properly (still on a 14g, but proud of it because I’m goin’ slooooooooow!). You helped me realize it wasn’t my fault that my earlobes went mad after I got them done at Claire’s as a little kid, I had all symptoms associated with the gun and alcohol… So now, I have money in my “pro piercing account” jar for my second holes, with a needle, no guns! Wish me luck today on getting my conch pierced. I love you all, awfulmods moderators and fans <3 Keep doing the awesome stuff y’all do. <3<3<3

Source: My ear

Submitter Comment: So I’ve been at 5/8” for about 8 months and thought my ears had dead stretched to 3/4” because my jewelry kept falling out and I could almost get my 3/4” plugs in. I was so excited, istead of just taping my existing plugs like a normal person, I put silicone in my lobes because I figured I was close enough already that it couldn’t hurt. Oh how wrong I was. At least, with my right ear anyway. My left lobe looked fine when I took the silicone out to shower.

What’s Awful: Stretching with silicone. Don’t do it, kids!

How It Can Be Fixed: Not using silicone, for starters. As you can see, I’m leaving my lobe naked and I’ve covered my ear in triple antibiotic ointment. When it’s not so raw and pissed off I’ll start doing sea salt soaks and when I’m able to wear jewelry in it again, I’ll be sure to take extra time and care in getting back to 3/4”


MODERATOR COMMENT:

Also DO NOT FORGET 17mm and 18mm!! It will ease your stretching process and help prevent this kind of thing from happening. :)

-Kat

(SOURCE!) Submitters Comment:  This came up on my newsfeed, a girl I used to know who thought my ears were &#8216;cool&#8217; so she started stretching them, I told her many times how to do it properly and to wait 8 weeks between each stretch, but I got ignored and she used silicone every couple weeks until 22mm. What&#8217;s Awful?: Torn and looks like there might be a blow out, stretched to 22mm in the space of 4 or 5 months with silicone How it can be fixed? Take out plug, leave to heal, oil massages,and stretch back up slowly with tape when fully healed. MODERATOR COMMENT:Honestly 8 weeks between sizes is still a tad fast. I know my ears are rarely ready that early and I&#8217;ll always urge people to be cautious when stretching.  That lobe also has that weird yellow spot, which - unless it&#8217;s a moist scab that&#8217;s turned that color - makes me think it&#8217;d be an infection in there as well. I&#8217;d go see a doctor if I were her&#8230; Also your &#8220;how can it be fixed&#8221; section is a little confusing and I&#8217;d like to clarify that COMPROMISED TISSUE SHOULD NOT BE MASSAGED. Only do massages on skin that is healed at least to the point where the scabs have all fallen off and the initial healing process is over. -Kat
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(SOURCE!)

Submitters Comment: 

This came up on my newsfeed, a girl I used to know who thought my ears were ‘cool’ so she started stretching them, I told her many times how to do it properly and to wait 8 weeks between each stretch, but I got ignored and she used silicone every couple weeks until 22mm.

What’s Awful?: Torn and looks like there might be a blow out, stretched to 22mm in the space of 4 or 5 months with silicone

How it can be fixed? Take out plug, leave to heal, oil massages,and stretch back up slowly with tape when fully healed.

MODERATOR COMMENT:
Honestly 8 weeks between sizes is still a tad fast. I know my ears are rarely ready that early and I’ll always urge people to be cautious when stretching. 

That lobe also has that weird yellow spot, which - unless it’s a moist scab that’s turned that color - makes me think it’d be an infection in there as well. I’d go see a doctor if I were her…

Also your “how can it be fixed” section is a little confusing and I’d like to clarify that COMPROMISED TISSUE SHOULD NOT BE MASSAGED. Only do massages on skin that is healed at least to the point where the scabs have all fallen off and the initial healing process is over.

-Kat

SUBMITTER COMMENT: I found this conversation while on Instagram on night. Basically one girl is telling the other she&#8217;s dumb for slowly stretching her ears. After reading this conversation I took a close look at the girl&#8217;s Instagram profile and I found a picture with a caption about her ears already blowing out. WHAT&#8217;S AWFUL: She&#8217;s skipping two sizes and doesn&#8217;t even care because she wants to stretch fast and on top of that she has already blown her ears once. She&#8217;s clearly uneducated about stretching her ears. HOW IT CAN BE FIXED: Taking out her plugs and letting her ears close up. If they&#8217;ve already blew out once, it&#8217;ll happen again.
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SUBMITTER COMMENT:

I found this conversation while on Instagram on night. Basically one girl is telling the other she’s dumb for slowly stretching her ears. After reading this conversation I took a close look at the girl’s Instagram profile and I found a picture with a caption about her ears already blowing out.

WHAT’S AWFUL:

She’s skipping two sizes and doesn’t even care because she wants to stretch fast and on top of that she has already blown her ears once. She’s clearly uneducated about stretching her ears.

HOW IT CAN BE FIXED:

Taking out her plugs and letting her ears close up. If they’ve already blew out once, it’ll happen again.

Submitter&#8217;s comment: Posting my own ear. Was gonna post it to Awesome Mods but I thought it&#8217;d be more useful (and educational) to post here. My lobes are 19mm (3/4&#8221;). What&#8217;s awful: Nothing! (: I wanted to show off what a nice, healthy lobe *that has never, ever had a blow-out and was stretched over several years* is supposed to look like. Show your friends what it looks like when it&#8217;s done right! MOD COMMENT:I was really confused when i saw this submitted to awful mods because there is NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS LOBE/EAR. And I bet some of you are going &#8220;ERMAHGERD WRINKLES DEY DID EET WRONGZ&#8221;. No. Stop. The fistula (the skin that forms around your jewelry to encapsule it and create a healed hole) is the same color as the rest of her earlobe - that means it&#8217;s healthy and normal, not a catbutt or anything bad like that.  Just&#8230;though I&#8217;d get that out there before everyone&#8230; -Kat
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Submitter’s comment: Posting my own ear. Was gonna post it to Awesome Mods but I thought it’d be more useful (and educational) to post here. My lobes are 19mm (3/4”).

What’s awful: Nothing! (: I wanted to show off what a nice, healthy lobe *that has never, ever had a blow-out and was stretched over several years* is supposed to look like. Show your friends what it looks like when it’s done right!

MOD COMMENT:
I was really confused when i saw this submitted to awful mods because there is NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS LOBE/EAR. And I bet some of you are going “ERMAHGERD WRINKLES DEY DID EET WRONGZ”. No. Stop. The fistula (the skin that forms around your jewelry to encapsule it and create a healed hole) is the same color as the rest of her earlobe - that means it’s healthy and normal, not a catbutt or anything bad like that. 

Just…though I’d get that out there before everyone…

-Kat

Don’t buy plugs at Spencer’s Gifts

Recently I purchased 3 pairs of single-flared steel tunnels in 1 1/8” , 1 3/16” , and 1 1/4” from Spencer’s Gifts. I usually don’t but I just needed some steel tunnels. I’ll remind you that I spent a total of $75.00 (about) on these 3 pairs. When I got home I opened them so I could put them away in my jewelry drawer. I went to put in the 1 1/8” tunnels (which is the size I’m at) into my lobes but they didn’t fit. So then I continued to compare the size differences between the 3 tunnels. They were the SAME SIZE. All 3 of them were EXACTLY the SAME. $75.00 wasted on 3 pairs of the SAME sized plugs. So I’m pissed and I contacted Spencer’s Gifts and I’m hoping for a reply soon. Moral of the story, don’t buy any kind of body jewelry from stores like Spencer’s or Hot Topic.

Stretching Stupidity

So I had this friend that I used to be quite close with from my work, and about 6 months ago we were talking to each other about modifications. We both expressed interest in stretching our ears, and she came up with the idea of starting to stretch together. This friend of mine however hadn’t even had her ears pierced, so she said she would get them pierced the next week and then start stretching the week after that. 
Having done my research on the subject, I told her that she’d have to wait at least 6 months after getting them pierced to start stretching them, though I recommended up to a year. I told her I’d be happy to wait until then to start stretching with her, however she did not take this well and I haven’t seen her often since then.
Despite my advice, in the not even six months she got them pierced, her ears are now stretched to an inch. They are disgusting and red and man, the blowouts. It really looks like she has two earlobes. And yet, even though they look disgusting, she thinks they look fantastic. Since the time I saw her I started stretching too, but mine are only up to 6G because I’ve been doing it really slowly and looking after my lobes, and seeing what hers look like because of her rushed job really enforces the fact that being patient and taking care of your lobes is the only way to do it. Unless you want to end up with disgusting looking ears. Its not worth it.

 WHAT’S AWFUL: Starting to stretch only a week or so after getting them pierced. Stretching them to an inch within six months of getting them pierced. Having horrible looking ears that are obviously damaged and need some serious TLC.

HOW IT CAN BE FIXED: Take everything out and just leave it to heal, get some jojoba oil on that and hope to hell that they start to heal without any kind of surgery.