Ear 1

Ear 2

SOURCE:(Not directly linked as it’s just my photobucket)

SUBMITTER’S COMMENT: Well, a little history I guess. These are my lobes today. (Please note they’re not actually this yucky pinky-red, I have a pink light which reeks havoc on my photo levels) I had them pierced with a gun when I was 12 at a hairdressers, where my aunt signed me off pretending to be my mum. Quality stuff, wonky and everything. I began stretching when I was about 18, I bought a nasty acrylic taper and similar screw-closure tunnels from the local goth shop. (The very same shop who have almost everything out to touch. One time my sister was in there, some girls stuck jewellery in their piercings and put it back, and the guy behind the counter got mad and said he’d have to “disinfect it all again”. Ugh. Just. No.) The girl who served me at the time said going from where I was to 3mm would be fine and to use vaseline. I did exactly that over the course of 2 days, along with a little blood and a nasty throbbing pain.
I know a lot better now. I later went up to 4mm by just popping the next size of acrylic in the day before an event.
I since let them shrink back, and have been stretching again using the correct methods shown in your stretching guide. (THANK you <3) I’m only back to a 2.4, but I’m kinda worried about the placement and any potential scar tissue? When I was younger I tried for 5mm, but one of my lobes was having none of it, which makes me think a little bundle of NOPE could be preventing me there. My goal size is 1” one day, but the way things are positioned I just feel like even with regular downsizing, my ears and going to look awfully thin. My local piercer said that the lobes should even themselves out over time and be just fine, but I’m starting to doubt their judgement after hearing some of the other stuff they’ve come out with. (I was told by the same guy that every surface piercing, even with a staple bar, will reject and they’re all pretty pointless.)
Magical mods, what are your opinions? These holes won’t close up completely as I had them out about a year before. Would it be worth getting them maybe dermal punched into a better placement and to remove any little bits of scarring?

WHAT’S AWFUL: Placement.

_________________________________________

MODERATOR’S COMMENT:

First things first: for the scar tissue, try massages. They’ll help break it up slowly over time.

I agree that the placement is not ideal, especially if you want to go much larger. I would try to get them to downsize as much as possible (while doing massages), and (provided they don’t close on their own) possibly look into scalpelling or having them closed by a professional and pierced again later. They’re so off from being centered that I’m not sure what your best bet will be at this point. If you send us your location we can try to help find a body modification artist near you that you can have a consultation in-person with.

SUBMITTER’S COMMENT: I’m actually submitting myself on here in hopes people will read this and take their time before getting a tattoo. I was 16 when I got this done (in Idaho, you could get tattooed at 14 with parental consent.) I brought in a very clear picture of the leaves, and told him I wanted it exactly like the picture. Needless to say, I did not get it. The stencil looked like the picture, but the tattoo did not. I went back in when I was 18 to see what could be done, only to find out that the guy who did mine was fired for terrible work. I’ve gotten it “fixed” as much as I could, now it just looks like black blobs on my chest. Trust with your artist is important. If you ever feel uncomfortable, don’t do it.

SUBMITTER&#8217;S COMMENT: Submitting myself just to inform others. Now I went to a professional shop to get my dimples done, everything was sanitary and the girl seemed very informed. She took an hour to line them up, and did well with keeping my calm and getting the bars in. Sadly she didn&#8217;t consider how thick my cheeks are, and put in bars that were too short. They still stuck out a bit but NOT enough for when swelling occurred. I thought it might embed so I kept a string of cotton between the ball and my cheeks on both the inside and the outside (Smart, right?). After about a week they were embedding, and I decided to go the next day. I woke up with the inside of my right piercing inside of my cheek, I cried in front of the mirror for about an hour in so much pain trying to remove it. I returned to the shop, and spoke to a different person. She felt so bad for me, and apologized for her co-workers mistake. She numbed my cheek, and was an all around great help, and very considerate of what happened. She gave me longer bars (threaded to help in case swelling became worse) and gave me the old ones for one 6 months or so passed and I could switch the jewelry. I got lucky with my dimple piercings, so be careful guys. I contemplated and thought I knew everything (risks, bars lengths  ect) about dimple piercings, but I didn&#8217;t. So RESEARCH your shop and make sure you are 100% on your piercing. ________________________________________ MODERATOR&#8217;S COMMENT: I feel like this is more of a warning for how people react when they have piercing issues. Sometimes piercings swell more than the piercer expects, sometimes something happens to cause them to have excessive swelling that is totally unrelated to the piercer. In any case, as soon as you feel like your jewelry is too short, GO SEE YOUR PIERCER TO GET LONGER JEWELRY. Don&#8217;t wait until they embed. Even if you aren&#8217;t sure if the jewelry is too short but you just have a tiny feeling it might be, go see your piercer. They can fix the problem much more easily as soon as it appears, opposed to a week later..
Pop-upView Separately

SUBMITTER’S COMMENT: Submitting myself just to inform others. Now I went to a professional shop to get my dimples done, everything was sanitary and the girl seemed very informed. She took an hour to line them up, and did well with keeping my calm and getting the bars in. Sadly she didn’t consider how thick my cheeks are, and put in bars that were too short. They still stuck out a bit but NOT enough for when swelling occurred. I thought it might embed so I kept a string of cotton between the ball and my cheeks on both the inside and the outside (Smart, right?). After about a week they were embedding, and I decided to go the next day. I woke up with the inside of my right piercing inside of my cheek, I cried in front of the mirror for about an hour in so much pain trying to remove it. I returned to the shop, and spoke to a different person. She felt so bad for me, and apologized for her co-workers mistake. She numbed my cheek, and was an all around great help, and very considerate of what happened. She gave me longer bars (threaded to help in case swelling became worse) and gave me the old ones for one 6 months or so passed and I could switch the jewelry. I got lucky with my dimple piercings, so be careful guys. I contemplated and thought I knew everything (risks, bars lengths  ect) about dimple piercings, but I didn’t. So RESEARCH your shop and make sure you are 100% on your piercing.

________________________________________

MODERATOR’S COMMENT:

I feel like this is more of a warning for how people react when they have piercing issues. Sometimes piercings swell more than the piercer expects, sometimes something happens to cause them to have excessive swelling that is totally unrelated to the piercer. In any case, as soon as you feel like your jewelry is too short, GO SEE YOUR PIERCER TO GET LONGER JEWELRY. Don’t wait until they embed. Even if you aren’t sure if the jewelry is too short but you just have a tiny feeling it might be, go see your piercer. They can fix the problem much more easily as soon as it appears, opposed to a week later..

Source

Be cautious around Diversified Ink in Bangor, ME. I went in a few months ago to talk to “B” about deep dydoes and various other genital piercings. I’ve had normal, 14g dydoes (10 and 2 position) in the past, but snagged one of them on my jeans which jumpstarted the rejection process. I took them both out because leaving just one in wouldn’t be symmetrical. Anywho, I loved the dydoes but wanted something sturdier, hence the interest in a deep dydoe that goes in behind the ridge and out next to the urethra. She told me she couldn’t do it, but she could give me 16g dydoes with a curved barbell. 16g and curved seemed totally fucked up, so I politely said I’d think about it and possibly come back.

I just came across her portfolio online. Even if 16g curved barbells are suitable for dydoes, I’m glad I didn’t get them. I would hate to support the “pro” who does things like:

The other piercer may very well be competent, so I don’t want to say avoid Diversified Ink altogether..

How it can be fixed: Learning the fundamentals of piercing

SOURCE: My mouth, my picture. SUBMITTER COMMENT: So, this lovely little piercing was something I did back when I thought I was a hardcore 15 year old. I pierced it in my bathroom with a sewing needle that I soaked with rubbing alcohol, and then put in a cheap, flaky, painted black, externally threaded barbell. I should also mention that I didn&#8217;t clean the jewelry first, because I thought it was already sanitized in the VARIETY store I bought it in. After posting it on my deviantART account, it is now the 8th picture that comes up if you google search &#8216;Tongue Web Piercing&#8217;. Ughh. What&#8217;s awful: Home piercing, cheap jewelry, promoting this to others! How it can be fixed: Go to a professional, buy high quality jewelry.
Pop-upView Separately

SOURCE: My mouth, my picture.

SUBMITTER COMMENT:

So, this lovely little piercing was something I did back when I thought I was a hardcore 15 year old. I pierced it in my bathroom with a sewing needle that I soaked with rubbing alcohol, and then put in a cheap, flaky, painted black, externally threaded barbell. I should also mention that I didn’t clean the jewelry first, because I thought it was already sanitized in the VARIETY store I bought it in.

After posting it on my deviantART account, it is now the 8th picture that comes up if you google search ‘Tongue Web Piercing’. Ughh.

What’s awful: Home piercing, cheap jewelry, promoting this to others!

How it can be fixed: Go to a professional, buy high quality jewelry.

Submitting myself here. When I was seventeen, I had my eyebrow pierced twice unprofessionally with a reused needle

Oh yeah, fun stuff. Placement ended up being really bad so I took them out.

 

and now almost three years later I still have really bad scarring from them! I’ve had this eyebrow pierced five times professionally and it recovered perfectly from those, but never healed the original home done ones. Unprofessional piercings can have long term consequences, so keep that in mind next time you think you don’t want to pay for someone to do it.

Submitter comment: So hey guys, this is me. I decided it&#8217;d be okay to skip from 1/2s to 5/8s with silicone, I thought my lobes were healthy enough to get away with it. My ears obviously infected and I&#8217;m definitely downsizing and cleaning it constantly. I thought this picture would be appropriate for this Tumblr. What&#8217;s awful: The fact that I skipped sizes and that my ears are obviously infected. How it can be fixed: DOWNSIZE! I&#8217;m not gonna be wearing jewelry in my ears for a while :/ Moderator comment: IF YOU THINK YOUR EARS ARE INFECTED GO. TO. A. DOCTOR. NOW. noooooooooooow. now. -Kat
Pop-upView Separately

Submitter comment: So hey guys, this is me. I decided it’d be okay to skip from 1/2s to 5/8s with silicone, I thought my lobes were healthy enough to get away with it. My ears obviously infected and I’m definitely downsizing and cleaning it constantly.

I thought this picture would be appropriate for this Tumblr.

What’s awful: The fact that I skipped sizes and that my ears are obviously infected.

How it can be fixed: DOWNSIZE! I’m not gonna be wearing jewelry in my ears for a while :/

Moderator comment:

IF YOU THINK YOUR EARS ARE INFECTED GO. TO. A. DOCTOR. NOW. noooooooooooow. now.

-Kat

Dermal Removal: Piercer VS Doctor

I don’t want to submit a photo of this individual because not only is it filtered (instagram) so that the redness and infection is difficult to see, it is on her very-identifiable face and I don’t wish to play that game. But here is my story:

About a year ago, my side-by-side dermals beneath my collarbone had a very nasty accident with my fuzzy pillow, which is filled with fuzzy-pillow bacteria being that I can’t just throw my fuzzy pillow in the washer after I drool on it and rub my hair and skin oils all over it all night - it has to be steam cleaned. They ripped but didn’t come out because I was quick to stop moving and untangle them from the fuzzies. I called my mom crying, and she refrained from “I told you so” and simply made an appointment with the doctor for the next afternoon. When I arrived, he took a look and informed me that he had never even heard of these piercings and was not sure how to remove them. I explained to him, complete with a diagram of the jewelry, how the piercing was done, and which side of the gem had the long leg and short leg under my skin. Two injections of local anesthesia later, he was snipping tissue and I felt nothing but pressure. After removal, my doctor (with gloved hands, of course) applied pressure to the area and squeezed out any pus (etc.) that he could, and gave me wound care instructions and a prescription for antibiotics to kill any infection that was still there.

Had I not gone to the doctor, and my piercer had removed them, chances are my skin would have healed over the infection and an abscess would have formed (which can be deadly if not attended to). My doctor learned something new, and he caught on quickly because he is a smart man - if your doctor is not a smart man who is quick to learn, you should find another doctor.

Last fall, a girl from my area (who I’d never even met or heard of up until after this) started following me on instagram out of the blue. I followed back, and I couldn’t help but comment politely with my advice (based on my experience) one day when she posted her infected facial dermal, crying about it. She became very rude and told me I was stupid and that I don’t know anything about piercings (I’ve had over 15 piercings, most of which I’ve had done after serious research), and she was going to her piercer friend who did all her piercings and knew everything about it. I explained to her that it would be more painful that way and the piercer couldn’t give her any antibiotics for the infection, and told her good luck. She then commented on a photo of my ear (I had just gotten a new double forward helix recently) - one of my earrings was shaped really oddly, and she chastised me for having poorly aligned piercings and told me I was unqualified to give her advice (all because my earring was shaped in a way that you can’t really tell where the post on the back is). I explained that to her, wished her the best again, and blocked her from contact.

All I can say is that I hope her “piercer friend” referred her to a doctor as well and refused to remove it.

LESSON TO LEARN: IF YOUR PIERCING IS INFECTED, PLEASE GO TO A DOCTOR. SKIP THE PIERCER - THEY CANNOT PRESCRIBE ANTIBIOTICS FOR WHAT COULD BE A DEADLY INFECTION.

______________________________________________

MODERATOR’S COMMENT:

I agree with the sentiment that if you believe you have an infection, you should go straight to see your doctor for antibiotics. This is the same advice a professional piercer should give you if you go to see them about infection, anyway.

HOWEVER, I would like to make it clear that there is absolutely NOTHING WRONG with a piercer removing a surface anchor. In fact, that is the way I prefer it be done. Doctors cause much more trauma when they cut them out. A skilled piercer could remove the surface anchor just with massage and pressure, because they have a greater understanding of the jewelry and the piercing. There is absolutely no need to use a local anesthetic or cut them out, and it greatly increases the healing time and the chance of scar tissue.

I would’ve suggested going to your doctor about the infection, and then having your piercer remove them after being put on antibiotics. They are different professionals for different problems.

SUBMITTER COMMENT: Self-submission for the win. Don&#8217;t ever get your first tattoo in your friend&#8217;s kitchen by someone who took a 2 hour motorcycle ride as payment. Haha. WHAT&#8217;S AWFUL: Um, unsanitary conditions. Terrible artwork. A bunch of things are wrong with this. I&#8217;m lucky I didn&#8217;t get an infection. HOW TO FIX IT: I&#8217;m getting it covered. There&#8217;s no fixing it haha. All my other tattoos have been done professionally and in a clean and sanitary place. They all definitely look a lot better than this mess. I&#8217;ve learned my lesson the hard way x)
Pop-upView Separately

SUBMITTER COMMENT: Self-submission for the win. Don’t ever get your first tattoo in your friend’s kitchen by someone who took a 2 hour motorcycle ride as payment. Haha.

WHAT’S AWFUL: Um, unsanitary conditions. Terrible artwork. A bunch of things are wrong with this. I’m lucky I didn’t get an infection.

HOW TO FIX IT: I’m getting it covered. There’s no fixing it haha.

All my other tattoos have been done professionally and in a clean and sanitary place. They all definitely look a lot better than this mess. I’ve learned my lesson the hard way x)

Source: My own picture Submitter Comment: I changed my nose ring from a regular silver hoop to this blue hoop. After about a day I noticed my nose becoming very sore and tender. When I tried to move the hoop, it got stuck and hurt really badly. I found out after I got it out that it was just as cheap as I thought it was, the paint on it had peeled off and got stuck in my hole.  What’s awful: Cheap, low-quality jewelry. painted, not anodized. I don&#8217;t even know what kind of metal it&#8217;s made of, and I couldn&#8217;t find the answer online. I assume it&#8217;s not the best quality though.  How it can be fixed: Do not buy cheap jewelry from Hot Topic or Spencers Gifts. 
Pop-upView Separately

Source: My own picture

Submitter Comment: I changed my nose ring from a regular silver hoop to this blue hoop. After about a day I noticed my nose becoming very sore and tender. When I tried to move the hoop, it got stuck and hurt really badly. I found out after I got it out that it was just as cheap as I thought it was, the paint on it had peeled off and got stuck in my hole. 

What’s awful: Cheap, low-quality jewelry. painted, not anodized. I don’t even know what kind of metal it’s made of, and I couldn’t find the answer online. I assume it’s not the best quality though. 

How it can be fixed: Do not buy cheap jewelry from Hot Topic or Spencers Gifts.