Downsizing my stretched ears and they're sore

[Melancholia.]

I had my ears sized up to about a 2 but I left my earrings out for too long by accident and the right hole started to close. I tried to get my right earring back through and even put the taper through, but my ear also started to swell so I gave up. Instead of sizing them back up later I decided I am going to just let them shrink to normal.

However, now both ears are sore. I understand the right ear being sore since I worked to get the earring back through, but the left one is too and they both look almost kind of swollen near the hole. Is that normal? Again, I understand if it were just the right ear but it's also the left and I haven't done anything to that besides leave the earring out.

[Celestine.]

Hey there.

I’m not a doctor and I have not stretched my ears so I highly recommend going to see your doctor to make sure that all is good and they’re not infected. You can also talk to someone at a tattoo salon and see if they have any advice as well.

From what I read, a salt soak may help with the pain (distilled water with a pinch of salt and then soak for 10-15 minutes for two or three times a day) and can help keep them clean and fight off an infection. Massaging them with oil may also help, you can choose an oil like jojoba oil or vitamin E.

Hope this helps.