The best chance of your ears healing depends on how nice you were to your ears during the stretching process. If you barged ahead and sized up every other week, you most likely caused small tears and potentially ripped the delicate tissue of your holes. If you allowed them to heal for at least a month before sizing up, that will speed up the healing process and your ears will thank you.

Remember never to stretch dry. Always use some kind of lube, like a special stretching balm, Vitamin E oil, or coconut oil. Stretching in or after a hot shower has been said to help with the stretching process. Also, tapers are not meant to be worn as jewelry, because the weight is uneven, so only use them for stretching. Don't use acrylic or silicone tapers; although acrylic tapers are the cheapest and easiest to find, acrylic can't be fully sterilized, and silicone tapers can cause blowouts due to trapped bacteria.;
, For example, if your normal gauge is a 000 (10.4 mm), put a 00 (9.26 mm) in your ear.


If you have gone above a 12 mm g, it is unlikely that you will experience much shrinkage. This is because stretching your ears involves (surprise, surprise) stretching--you stretch the tissue of your ear and then allow it to heal. If blowouts, tearing or infections occur, scar tissue builds up which can sometimes keep ear lobes from shrinking back to normal once they have been stretched. Of course, everyone's body is different. Just be aware of the potential that your ears might not shrink back without surgery., You should wear the smaller gauge until your ear has shrunk down so that this gauge fits well. This may take only a few days for some people, and longer than a week for others.
 The smallest is a 17g (1.14 mm). Most wire earrings are .812 mm and studs are 1.02 mm.
Gauge correctly in the first place.
Decrease the the gauge you are wearing by 'going down' one size.
Wear the smaller gauge for a week.
Repeat this process until you are wearing the smallest gauge.
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