Given the discussion about regretting mods that’s been happening a lot lately, I thought I’d put up some photos of what’s becoming an increasingly common modification, the surgical reversal of stretched earlobes back to “normal”. Most definitely procedures like this (offered by both cosmetic surgeons and by body modification practitioners) are rising in how much money they generate as more and more people change their minds for a wide variety of reasons.
Like tattoo removal, these procedures don’t tend to be cheap, with prices ranging from a few hundred dollars to well over a thousand, to say nothing of carrying their own risks as well. Thus, the surer you can be before undertaking semi-permanent body modification, the better!
Continue reading for more photos as S’s ears healed.
The photos above are before (duh), looking quite nice with those clear plugs, and on the day of the surgery. The photo below takes us to day three:
It’s looking happier on day eight:
Finally, on day twelve the sutures are out and you can get a fairly good idea of what it’s going to look like — the shape of the lobe is pretty much perfect, although there is certainly some residual scarring, especially on the left lobe. Note though that almost all of this scarring should disappear in time — at twelve days they’re still very fresh.
BME/News and Modblog highlight only a small fraction of what
Well. Looks like I am keeping my lobes. Not that I was planning to reverse them anyway.
Just to be clear and it doesn’t seem like I’m misrepresenting anything, the scarring will still go down A LOT from what you see in the last photo.
Do you know why she reversed them? It looks like she has plenty more “public” modifications, so why’d she choose to get rid of that one?
This makes me sad. My lobes reacted to the Chicago weather so I kept my plugs out. I was 9/16, now less than a week later I’m down to a 0g and it’s near devistating. I can’t imagine losing my stretching altogether.
i like the little chunks in the specimen cup shot the best
i don’t plan to give up my plug collection, but its definetly interesting reads…
its upsetting because the scarring is so nasty. nothing is reversable, just changable, i guess.
I have nightmares that somebody does this to my ears againt my will… Guess it just goes to show how relative and personal it is.
But I would also be interested to know ‘why’, if it is answerable.
in 06′ i had my ears closed up by a plastic surgeon from 3/4 to nothing. i was really scared because of how bad my ears looked once the sutures were taken out. my ears have since then healed up perfect. i have also gotten my ears re-pierced. just wear some simple captive bead rings in them. i closed them for a career choice which fell through
i blew out my ears at 7/8″ five years ago. they closed up to about 0g really quickly. due to my job that summer (i spent a lot of time in swamps) i didn’t want to risk having a newly stretched set of lobes get fucked up, so i never put anything back in. they are back down to the 12g i got them pierced at, and it’s often a source of depression for me to remember how nice they once were.
It would be interesting to see how many people have reversed certain modifications to their body, in order to gain employment… and whether or not the career opportunity was still available to them, after they made the change.
I personally, have taken out piercings for the sake of jobs, which didn’t always come through for me. Eh, life is about choices.
I’m glad the healing went ok. I second,that the jar pic is really cool.
I could never see myself doing that. If stretched ears were not permitted by my job… I guess that job wasn’t meant for me.
ruinsofdecay- do you plan on restretching since the job fell through?
Alex – I definitely know quite a number of people who’ve reversed to make employment easier, and I certainly don’t fault them for doing so, although I’d never do it personally.
That said, to those who say it’ll stop you, it’s been my experience that if you’re profoundly good at what you do, mods can actually HELP you because they make you more memorable. While there’s a small negative, more than anything they’re an “amplifier”… I should again link to one of my favorite interviews: Alvar, who makes droids for NASA
when this procedure is done, do they use anesthetics? and does that answer change between having it done by a typical dr vs a mod practitioner. or is different for everyone?
(and a silly question…i wonder if anyone ever gets phantom earlobe syndrome afterwards)
As a general rule anesthetics would be used for a procedure like this.
I don’t think there’d be phantom earlobe since the lobe is still there on the whole?
Ouch, that’s crazy for me to see on a personal level. About 2 years ago I was going to join the US Marines with a buddy of mine. At the time my lobes were 5/8th I believe. They told me to take them out and see how far they would shrink, which I did. They never got smaller than about a 2 gauge and they said they were going to cut my lobe and sew it back together similar to this story. I know it wouldn’t have been as drastic as this particular one but it still makes me glad I didn’t go through with it. Long story short I met the love of my life and decided against a free trip to Iraq and kept/fixed my mods.
I enjoyed the read.
I don’t begrudge those who make the choice to get reversal surgery, but I think of all the work that went into stretching and it makes me a little sad. To each their own, I guess.
Looks like they have done a fantastic job in reconstructing the ear.
I have personally made changes to fit in with my career, but I don’t think that my piercings and stretched lobes were so dear to me as they are to others.
I’m not too sure ‘small negative’ would be the correct term at an interview for a financial firm where theres 200 people to a post. However wrong it may be, theres being memorable for a good reason, and also for what they may percieve to be a ‘bad’ reason.
This reconstruction looks a lot better than a recent post about sugery after the lobe thinned, but then these stretched lobes look in fantastic condition.
I wonder if she still had the ear pieces?!
I think that its great that this is out there for people who need it. Rock on
This makes me incredibly sad. I understand people have their own agency, and they have their own reasons for making these decisions. It’s just like….I have been stretching my ears for about 5/6 years and it’s commitment and dedication and it’s part of who I am (I’m stretching once more to 3/4, and then I’m DONE FOR GOO! haha). I can’t even imagine having this done, haha, I LOVE MY EARS. Someone today was actually telling me how repulsive they thought it was to have stretched ears, and how people get piercings and stretch their ears for “shock factor”. She was like “when you’re 50, you’re not going to want those anymore” and in my head I was thinking “YOU BET YOUR SWEET ASS I AM GOING TO STILL WANT/HAVE THEM”.
Kudos to her for making that decision. I guess I’m just too attatched to mine (literally).
I meant to say “Good” not “Goo”…although I’m sure you all understood what I meant.
Wow, what beautiful healthy lobes those were. Yet even though he reversed them, they still look good, and he’s not left with these teeny strips of flesh at the bottom that you can’t do anything with. The practitioner did a good job.
Did I miss the part where it said whether these were done by a surgeon or a mod practitioner?
Such a shame because they looked like really healthy stretched lobes, but I would love to know the reasons as well as see some follow up shots once the scarring has had the chance to go down more =)
I had my right earlobe pierced three times and stretched. When the top two holes ripped into each other, I didn’t have much choice other than to get them closed; I decided to go to a mod practitioner. The procedure, which I got in November, was one of the most painful experiences of my life- I got a shot of anesthetic, but it all bled out after about 10 minutes. It healed very well and the scarring is minimal- you wouldn’t notice it unless I pointed it out. I miss my piercings very much, and am excited about the day that I can get my ear repierced.
And no, I’ve never felt ‘phantom earlobes’.
wow, shes pretty, but i have to say personally i;d stick with the stretched lobes rather than the scars
It makes me so incredibly sad to see this. To be honest, I think that if a person didn’t consider how stretching their lobes would affect their career choices, they shouldn’t have done it in the first place.
I have 3/4″ lobes, which are much smaller than many people’s, I know, but I can’t begin to imagine how lost I’d feel without them.
I have actually quit two jobs because I wasn’t allowed to modify myself as I saw fit. I will admit, however, that the latter of the two jobs defended me when a client complained about one of my visible mods.
I was quoted $500 an ear to get my 1.5 inch lobes sewn up. I am glad that I kept mine stretched!
Lobe reversal is SO amazing!!
The success of most I’ve seen is so encouraging to personally achieve and even larger size. It’s one of the few substantially more “permanent” mods that can be effectively reversed should life take a change in pace.
I love that!
(Though I definitely prefer the look of stretched lobes 😉 )
it makes me sad when people have to reverse their stretch lobes, because for me it was a lot of pain and time and money to get them stretched to the size i want and it just seems almost a waste to have them reversed, or a shame at least. but i understand the reasons behind them yesss
Ruinsofdecay: Did your ears seriously shrink all the way back up from 7/8th?! Im at 5/8 right now and i would like to go to 3/4 but i am reluctant to because of my fear of how poorly they would shrink up. However my ears do shrink down to 1/2 in 3 days of so if i give them time.
shannon~ weren’t you considering it for
your appearance in your recent legal
interruption?
Beautiful job I think they will heal up nicely. The lobes have been stitched so nicely into shape!
Those are nicely done, however I still love my lobes as is. I’d never change them back.. Good for her though!
aww. i hope she posts why she did this!
RE: Phantom earlobes
I don’t have stretched earlobes, but the comment reminded me of when I cut my hair from about two feet long down to nothing. I still (eight years later) occasionally have dreams about the way even a soft breeze would tug at my hair, so that I always knew what direction the wind was blowing without thinking about it; it always made me think of insect antennae.
Anyway, I wonder if having heavy plugs in your ears for a long time affects the way you physically sense the world. I would expect they pull downwards when you lay down, or bounce when driving on a rough road or a train or subway, so that you’d get used to referring to the sensation. Not that up and down aren’t pretty obvious, but I bet you’d notice the lack of the sensation once it was gone.
wonderful article! we want updates on the healing, shannon!
This kind of reminds me of when I got my wisdom teeth pulled and they gave them to me, their on my dresser in a little treasure chest box thing, those dentists are funny I must say, but hey atleast she gets a souvenir.
<333
-Sarah
hi. i’m s… the girl in the photos. to answer some of your questions.
why? i work in health care. i loved my lobes, but i want to be a nurse, and stretched lobes are sort of a no-no. and in general, it’s like so many of my piercings, where i got to a point and i felt like i didn’t “need” them anymore.
cost? this was done by a very highly respected board-certified plastic surgeon. it was his first ear lobe reconstruction from stretched lobes. he gave me a good deal, and the price included the initial consultation, as well as the aftercare and suture removal. should i need a second surgery to “fix” anything, that will also be included. he charged me a flat grand.
phantom ear? i absolutely experienced phantom ear. it didn’t happen until the day i had the sutures removed, but for several hours (nine, maybe) after the sutures were taken out, i felt like my ears were still stretched and like there were heavy weights hanging on them. weird.
scars. the scaring is already going down. this monday i was able to start my scar therapy- five minutes of massage with lotion, then i apply cimeosil ointment. (it’s like a surgical grade maderma, but it’s made from silicone.) i do that once in the morning and once at night. the scars are already getting softer, too.
since i have sent photos in, i’ll be joining iam again and re-vamping my page. iam: flightless_faerie any more questions? email me: flightless.faerie at gmail.com 🙂
Interesting. I’m attempting a downsize after 5 years of stretching and over a year at 5/8″ (as well as downsizing my other two earlobe holes, though those are no problem as at their largest they were 12ga and 6ga) — it’s not going nearly as well as I hoped, unfortunately, although I finally said screw it and went plugless a couple of days ago after losing not one, but two 6ga plugs after being comfortably at 4ga. So we’ll see how that turns out. Maybe I’ll have some interesting pictures =)
Suzy, are you allowed to have the conch tunnels/helices/industrial as a nurse?
#30 Shannon wasn’t considering it. You may have him mistaken with the post he made on bodytwo about taterotica getting his reversed for a custody case.
I had a keloid removed and my earlobes reshaped a few months ago. You definitely can feel the phantom ear thing, it’s always weird to tuck my hair behind my ears now. I will be stretching my ears after this fully heals and I know I wont be thinking of ever reversing them, just becuase the surgery was such an annoyance. Yes the scarring will go down to damn near invisible and soft reallly quickly. Which, no offence darling,is good for you because I’ve seen much better/cleaner lines. Hope you’re happy with it, congrats on working towards the career you want 🙂
Chanel~ oh my bad 🙂
Each time I see someone who has had their stretched ears surgically closed up, I am sad. Sad for all the changes they are giving up. Sad that they decided to undo what I consider a very beautiful modification. Something they spent untold amounts of time to get to look beautiful. I understand some feel they must, but in my book they are meant to be permanent and should stay with someone permanently.
#25- While almost all mods deserve to be taken very seriously within the context of one’s life decisions, the beauty of it is that you can choose to make your body a palate that changes along with your life. Suzy (as many people) may not have envisioned herself going into her field when she started stretching- but now that she has chosen nursing, she has placed the importance of helping others above that of her mods, which is incredibly admirable, imo.
And hey, you can always re-stretch after retirement! How awesome would it be to have a grandma with 7/8 lobes!
Dont stretch if youre not willing to accept it as a permanent mod. Thats my opinion anyway.
i took all my piercings except for one dermal anchor and my septum out for culinary school. no biggie. sometimes a dream or a goal is worth giving up a modification or 15.
it certainly was for me.
people change and so does ones body.
forgot to mention this- he did use a local anesthetic. as the surgery took about forty-five minutes, i can’t imagine how it would’ve felt without it! i started to feel the cutting (not pain, but i could feel more than pressure) toward the bottom of the first ear (left) that he stitched. so, on the right side he gave me three or four extra shots. i was numb for the entire day after the surgery, and only started to feel a small amount of pain in the early morning hours after that night.
i also took a course of antibiotics post surgery for ten days. surgeon wanted to make sure there would be no risk for infection.
I really like how he reshaped the ears!
While it is sad to give up something that you’ve worked on, I don’t think it should be a first priority. If someone wants to be a nurse, have a career, and help people…why should her ear lobes overrule that? Yes, mods are a huge part of life. But honestly, if you give up bigger dreams for them, your priorities need fixing.
Alice #47: Having visible mods need not hinder your career, and in my opinion, being true to yourself is, in itself, a priority.
I am a caregiver, I work with children aged 19 months to 12 years in a daycare. I have a large flower-themed scarification chestpiece (photos of it were featured on BodyTwo.com’s modblog) that I regularly leave uncovered. Many of the children and parents that I work with are very fond of my 3/4″ lobes and my chestpiece.
You’d think most people wouldn’t want someone so “strange-looking” interacting with their children for 8 hours a day and having so much influence on their lives, but I’ve had virtually no negative comments.
Maybe I’m an idealist, but I like to hold on to the belief that as time goes on and a different generation begins to take hold in the corporate world, modification won’t be seen as deviant behavior.
I personally work in the government sector as an Urban Planner. I work with the mayor of a city of 50,000 people on a daily basis, as well as elected city officials and other important public figures. I don’t have the most extreme mods in the world, but I have a tongue piercing and an ever-growing tattoo collection (some visible, some not so much). It was the first job I applied for and I was hired no problem (I had a very good resume). People ask questions, but its a good way to get into a conversation with co-workers and all the questions were innocent, mostly about tattoo meanings, how long I had my mods, etc.
During reversal, are the insides of the lobes roughed up at all to help them close back up?
cam-
the procedure went like this. first, he detached the loop at the ear end, so the stretched area of the lobe was hanging. then, he sliced the top and the hanging lobe part of the ear so there was an open area all around the ear. (if there’s no open skin, there’s nothing for the ear to heal back together with.) then he stitched- there were tons of sutures. between the two ears there were more than thirty, because he stitched both the front and back of each ear. when he got to the end, he cut off the excess and sewed the end of the lobe onto the face area. walah!
Thanks suzy! 🙂
Did anyone just.. EAT their lobes when they get home ? just fry then up and go crazy ? seems like an interesting idea I would say.
oh my goodness. the bottom edge of the lobe is going to be positively seamless after a few years. the line-up on it is so damn smooth!
Hahaha, that sounds like an interesting thing to do with them Rauka!
i got so sad when i saw those pictures, ’cause her lobes look quite perfect… i can’t uderstand why someone would go that far on stretching if the possibility of reconstructing them is high…
i was “forced” to reconstruct my left lobe and i remember having tears in my eyes when I looked at it healed ’cause i wouldn’t be able to go all the way again… well, i’m trying, but i’ll have to stay with smaller lobes
That person is very very very cute.
It does kinda support the whole idea that maybe ear stretching isn’t as much of a perm mod as people seem to believe, considering the vast numbers of people now having them removed.
It still warrants that I wouldn’t want my lobes cut up and placed like that, but it’s interesting to see how it is done and the lobes do look almost perfect.
Think i would rather my nice looking 22mm ears than those scars…
again, i hope everyone realizes that those last photos were taken immediately after suture removal. this was only on day twelve of the whole procedure. the scars have already (two weeks later) gone down a lot. since i am fair skinned, by the time the ears are completely healed the scars will barely be visible at all. and i’m currently doing scar therapy twice every day.
also- why this would make anyone sad, i don’t know. do i miss my old lobes? sure. but the confidence that my new ears has given me definitely exceeds any sorrow for having to reverse them. the “possibility of reconstruction” wasn’t high when i started stretching. but i guess the point here is that i didn’t really understand the impact of having stretched ears in society. i don’t regret stretching them initially. in fact, i look back on the whole process fondly. it taught me a lot about myself. but, in the same way, the reversal has also taught me a lot about myself.
i don’t think it’s right to view me as a “quitter” because i felt like i shouldn’t keep the mods anymore. i am entering a new phase in my life now, and i don’t need the big, stretched lobes anymore. while it would be great if people really viewed me in a positive light because of my mods, but that is simply not the case for me personally. i live in a small town (where a lot of the people i come into contact with have only seen stretched ears on national geographic.) and it is not accepted the way it is in a lot of bigger cities. and giant ear lobes are not easy to hide, like a lot of my mods are.
body modification is about sculpting our bodies to make our outside look more like how we feel on the inside. this is more how my inside feels now, and i don’t think it’s right to criticize me for this very personal story. i decided to share the photos of my healing process (and the story itself) because i thought it might help someone who is thinking about this procedure to make a decision one way or the other. ultimitely, it was a decision that i personally felt i had to make and was something that i considered for literally two years before the surgery date. i needed to do this for me. if it’s not for you- keep your lobes! but don’t make me feel bad for simply taking another step in the process of trying to create perfection for myself.
suzy,
Thank you for sharing.
Aren’t we constantly recreating ourselves? Yes, they were perfect lobes, but she needed to move on. Get over it people.
Ahhhh but her ears looked so good before! well, it’s all about being happy with yourself, I suppose. 🙂
i agree with shannon just be good at what you do and youll be allright. I used to take my mods out for jobs and it made me feel so uneasy at places i just couldnt take it. It may be a little hard for you to get your foot in the door but once in be good and youve just changed there opinions on modded people. Were i work i got hired by the second in charge and he didnt give a shit, after working there a year the main boss had told me he wouldnt have hired me. But he also said that now hed give others modded people a chance. All it takes is one good thing to make people change their minds about us.
It’s really cool that you can do that! I did not know! I have v. small lobez right now but I want them bigger so now I don’t have to be scared to do it! RAD!
So are you going to be taking out your other ear piercings, Suzy?
In a perfect world, you could keep your mods and look however the hell you wanted. And you definitely are entitled to respect in your profession no matter waht you look like.
But regardless of how much you deserve it or how much you should be entitled to it, that doesn’t make it the case. Even though I should be respected as an intelligent, educated, responsible person, there will always be people who look at my mods and think I must have shit for brains to do something like that. Sad but true. You can’t win every battle, as much as you may deserve it.
It’s always going to be hard to maintain a balance between modifying yourself to the level you want/need/feel is appropriate, and keeping all the necessary doors in life open. That can obviously depend on your location, chosen profession, anything and everything around you.
What’s really frustrating is the people that act like Suzy’s done something wrong and inappropriate by reversing her lobe stretching. Ears are ears. Regardless of how much stock you put in your modifications, I still see the human body as something to be decorated, yes, but also a very transient thing, and the experiences of doing something you truly love for the majority of your life vastly outweighs your right and ability to modify yourself in importance.
I’m lucky enough to have a job right now that doesn’t mind a handful of piercings and formerly some pretty ridiculous hair. This is pretty hard to find in most security jobs in the first place; most companies will even make you remove a single ear piercing. If that changes, I’ll obviously have to reevaluate my situation. Right now, I can’t afford to NOT compromise somewhat – I have to eat, clothe and house myself, and I have tuition to pay. I can live without modifications if it means I’m closer to living my ideal career choice.
Thanks to Suzy for posting and being so helpful and informative.
for those who want to know if i will be taking the rest of my ear piercings out:
i don’t wear jewelry in most of the holes in my ears. (there are holes that go all the way up both sides.) that’s not because i am not allowed to wear them- it’s just become more comfortable for sleeping. i put them in from time to time. the rest of the piercings have not proven to be an issue. i guess mostly because they are covered up by my hair a lot more easily. if i was told i had to take them out or i wouldn’t get the job of my dreams, i’d take them out in a second. the nice thing is, you can take out non-stretched ear piercings and it doesn’t change the overall look of your ear. obviously, this was not the case with my stretched lobes.
Why does it make me sad? Because the world is so judgemental that people who at one point felt their “mods” were part of them, feel as if they need to remove them, otherwise preventing them from employment. I go to mortuary school, and I definitely will not remove my piercings. I don’t wear my septum down at work, but I wear my lip stud and my plugs in (I just don’t wear flesh tunnels). I have NEVER had any issues with my “mods”. It’s just sad because I know one day I might, and I wish that people weren’t so judgemental about them. Suzy, good for you. Nursing is an admirable employment choice. I just don’t know that I could ever resconstruct my ears! They are part of me, I would be so sad if I ever had to choose between something I have been working at for years, or something I feel defines me and/or is part of me. I hope within the next 10-15 years people will become more open-minded to “mods” in moderation…because they are already an exisiting issue for most.
To #19 above. I agree. I’m pretty sure I’m still going to want all my mods when I’m 50. After all, that’s only a year and a half away for me.
#71!!!
That makes me soooo happy! I LOVE THAT!
I think it’s rediculous that so many people would take issue with this. It is a choice, just as the original modification was a choice. So you don’t want to do it to yourself, well, some people can’t imagine stretching in the first place. It’s not as though she’s lost her identity….she’s moved on in whatever way she felt she needed to. And as far as “the world”, well, I took out most of my mods as a late teen to obtain employment. 10 years later I have acheived what I wanted to do and can look however the hell I please. While it may be sad that the big bad world is based on appearances, it’s also the reality. Deal.
Minus that “e” there chap.
rIdiculous.
People are allowed to express their opinions. I just think a lot of people have a hard time seeing this, or it makes them “sad” because people are very attatched to their modifications. It’s at people’s own discretion to take out their piercings and sew up their lobes. Like number 70, and number 67 said…we’d like for the world to be one way, but unfortunately it’s not and it really is disheartening to see that people feel they should alter their image soley for employment. People with piercings/tattoos are equally qualified as people without. Appearances mean NOTHING…rather, appearances SHOULD mean nothing. At least in these cases of body modifications. Oh well…happy valentines’ day everyone.
and for the record, i didn’t do this completely for reasons of employment. there were many other things which played into it, too. one of those reasons being that one of my lobes looked completely different (both in size and in the general shape of the lobe) than the other due to a self-scalpeling many years ago which wasn’t really done properly.
so it isn’t an issue entirely of wanting to “fit in” in the employment world.
well with all the emo kids stretching lobes and such just to be “kewl” I’m sure in about 5 years even more people are going to be getting this done. its a commitment and i’m not sure some people get that…i understand some people DO understand and they just change their minds years later but some just see gauged ears more as jewelry displayers than a modification… like there is no permanence to it. i just see kids stretching their ears, showing off their “hot” new plugs and never thinking of 5 years from then….
posted a couple photos from today of the ears on my iam page (which is veeery under construction- sorry.) if you’re interested in seeing the scars on day twenty-eight.
I can understand and even admire someone who has honest reasons for reversing their ears, like Suzy did. I do agree with 76, though. There are a lot of younger teenagers stretching their lobes far too quickly and unsafely to large sizes and not realizing how permanent it is. I have a feeling lobe reversal is going to become very common in a few years when these kids get out into the real world and have problems with employment and that makes me sad. Nice work on the surgeon, though. Once the scars heal and fade, you won’t hardly be able to tell they were ever stretched in the first place.
Day 28 link for non-IAM members:
http://iampix.bmezine.com/1/a/gcwtkc/vrnwbsna.jpg
http://iampix.bmezine.com/1/a/gcwtkc/s039z3ze.jpg
I like the cup-shot as well
I can totally understand peoples desission to change their ears or other mods they have. Life is a journey and you change daily. I think things you loved 10 years ago can annoy you later. Thats just how we are I guess.
just…why? eugh. She has enough other ear mods going on there to make getting rid of her stretched lobes seem dumb. You shouldn’t get them done if you are not prepared to live with them. I cannot imagine not wanting my 1″ lobes. And for the record I am 24 and an archaeologist, not some emo kid following a trend.
Kim: Get off your high horse, you might get a nose bleed up there.
kim- i never stretched my lobes to be “an emo kid following a trend.”
times change. people change. if i could go back, i would stretch my lobes all over again. it isn’t something i regret by any means. however, i never realized how much people judge you on first impressions, and unfortunately in the field that i work in, stretched lobes are not the norm. if i was able to leave them as-is without being judged on first impressions i would have left them. but that’s not the case. we live in judgemental times. removing my stretched lobes does not change who i am… i’m still me. and if it bothers you so much that it changes your opinion of me (before you even take the chance to get to know me) then you’re probably not the kind of person i want to get to know, anyway.
not all people who stretch are emo…i was talking about the select group of teens who doesn’t give a shit about tomorrow…just about the look of today. i respect anyones right to a lobe reduction …thats just stupid to think everyone getting a lobe reduction is/was emo…not my point. i think lobe reduction is a great thing and honestly, maybe some day i might want my lobes reduced but for all those who stretch without thinking…well they are dumb and deserve to be stuck with their holes for awhile…maybe it will make them realise stretching lobes is a real, permanent mod, not just a trend which is what this is seeming to become. mods are becoming very trendy and people are getting them without thinking…i’m not saying you did but some do and they will need reductions when they realise it might have just been a trend…not what they originally planned. i just think in a few years all these teens who just had it done because it was the “kewl” thing to do are going to be thinking twice though i’m not saying everyone doesn’t think about their mods…just the trend following mindless people.
I dont really have much to say here other than its your own right to do with your body as you please.
I just wanted to express how much I love my stretched lobes, they arent huge, just 1/2 inch. I hope I will be able to keep my lobes stretched for the rest of my life, hopefully which will be many many years to come.
I see them as part of my self-image, I cant imagine my self without stretched lobes.
#74 (“Grammar Nazi”)-
1. I just think THAT a lot of people…
2. attached (no T before the C)
3. Like number 70 and number 67 said (no comma necessary)
4. soleLy
5. Valentine’s Day (should be capitalized)
hey
i need to know how much this would cost
for a well done one
i dont need the best of the best
just good enough to get my mom off my back and let me stretch to 1″ so i can tell her its “reversable”
thank you if you can get me an answer ^_^
dallas- as i said earlier up, i paid $1000 to have the reversal done by a board certified plastic surgeon.
I removed mine in Dec of 2003. They were an 1 + 1/4″. I removed my jewelry and they shrank back down to about 3/4″.
Aesthetically I enjoyed the shape of large lobes, but strongly disliked the condition of my own ears. Blow out from rushed stretching in early (and uneducated) days made them totally unsightly.
I have never regretted removing them.
My ears are 34mm I’ve stretched them up again.
Recently they were 36mm and they shrank to 18mm
in about 2 weeks. Is that just me?
I’ve had my lobes stretched for about 4 and a half years.
So not very long really, I guess my body heals well.
First of all, for everyone who is so saddened by this, take a moment to remember that these are not your earlobes… fortunately, nobody gave you the right to be sad about anyone else’s choices relating to their bodies, just like nobody gave your parents the right to be sad that their child would stretch their ears. You’re on the other side of the situation now, and though it means well, stop and think about what you are saying. Peoples bodies are their own, and we don’t have a right to tell them that their personal choices have ruined our personal good mood.
Second, for everyone who is missing earlobes that they’ve let shrink… stretch again. Earlobes that have been stretched once practically fall back open, in almost every case I’ve seen. For instance, my earlobes were at 7/8″ for about 6 months, then I took the plugs out completely for about 4 months and they shrunk to a 2 gauge! But as soon as I did begin stretching again, they were back at 7/8 in less than 2 months, with no sweat. It’s easier than you think!
Of all the sites in the world to have people criticizing someone about their physical choices, I would never have expected this to be it. I respect her for doing this, and find the transformation back to “normal” lobes rather interesting, as well as blow out surgery to correct torn lobes. Everyone is allowed to make their own choice, so since this is hers, stop your yakking. Seriously.
The trick (if you can call it that) is to just be so awesome that even with stretched ears and other visible modifications you can still get hired and respected in the pretentious field-of-your-dreams.
I want earlobes, but small ones, really tiny ones =)
But I think it`s kind of stupid that people don`t think really about how big they are going…
oooh… i like the ear lumps in the cup…
:]
does anyone know a mod practioner or surgeon where i can get my lobes sewn up in the la/orange county area?
i dont understand why you would chose to chop them off if you had nice healthy thick lobes like that to end up with terribly scarred lobes.