Dilated piercings

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Stretched lobe piercing

As dilated or stretched piercings such are piercings designated whose branch canal was enlarged intentionally, often with the intention of piercing jewelry to wear expanded diameter. The process is also called stretching .

This practice is usually carried out on the pierced earlobe , but in principle many piercings can be expanded to a certain diameter. Cartilage piercings are usually more difficult to stretch and can form bulging scars if stretched too quickly. The widening of surface piercings is also problematic because they are exposed to great tension. In order not to injure the puncture canal, it is usually stretched in small steps.

History and culture

Tutankhamun with stretched earlobe

Stretched piercings are probably as old as piercings themselves. All modern stretching methods have been used by indigenous cultures.

The oldest known stretched ears are those of the glacier mummy Ötzi from the Neolithic Age , discovered in 1991 , from around 3359 and 3105 BC. BC The "man from Tisenjoch" wore ears elongated to about seven to eleven millimeters. Depictions of the ancient Egyptian king Tutankhamun , who lived from around 1332 to 1323 BC. BC, show this also with enlarged ear holes. Even Buddha -Figuren are usually depicted with wide ear holes. Historical finds from the Moche culture , which developed in Peru from the 1st to the 8th centuries , bear witness to widened labret piercings .

Lip stone on a clay figure of the Moche culture

Highly dilated piercings were often used with the intention of making the women of the respective people appear unattractive to the men of the neighboring tribes, and later, despite their original purpose, developed into the ideal of beauty among their own tribesmen .

It is known from sculpture that stretched ears were already common thousands of years ago, especially in Asia . Residents of the Marshall Islands , for example, wore exceptionally large pierced ears that were widened with rolled up leaves from the screw trees . African and South American tribes still use this form of body jewelry in the 21st century, with the lips being stretched to sometimes enormous sizes in order to be able to insert lip plates .

The Zo'é -Indianern in Brazil , even lip plug Indians called carry both men and women up to 15 centimeters long lip plugs with diameters of up to four centimeters. These are used in small sizes from around eight years of age. A lip plug is mandatory for the Zo'é to be accepted as a tribal member. Stretched lip piercings are also known in Brazil by members of the Botocuds , the Kayapo and the men of the Suyá .

Apatani in India with wooden panels in the nostrils

In Asia, for example, the Karen in Myanmar and Thailand are familiar with widened ears . The women of the Apatani , a tribe in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh , wear a wooden plate with clearly widened diameters in the nostril piercings on both nostrils, in accordance with their ideal of beauty ; a place that is usually rather unusual for piercing stretching.

Nowadays, the modern form of body jewelry has made the centuries-old technique popular again and can be found in numerous youth and subcultures . This development was particularly driven by the modern primitive movement. Since the 1990s, the stretched ear hole in particular and, less often, the septum and nipple piercing have been gaining increasing popularity .

Flesh tunnel in labia piercings (left), Apadravya piercing (right) Flesh tunnel in labia piercings (left), Apadravya piercing (right)
Flesh tunnel in labia piercings (left), Apadravya piercing (right)

Genital piercings are typically worn with enlarged diameters. The Prince Albert piercing in particular is often stretched a few millimeters to make it more comfortable to wear. In addition to the aesthetic motifs that are generally in the foreground in piercings, genital piercings have an additional stimulating effect. The additional friction during sexual intercourse and the weight of the jewelry result in intensified stimulation, which is mostly perceived as very positive. Depending on the piercing, this effect is stronger when the piercing is stretched and can therefore accommodate larger jewelry.

Methods

There are several methods of enlarging a piercing, of different origins and for different purposes. The simple stretching of the puncture canal is usually carried out gradually at intervals of several weeks in millimeter increments in order to loosen the tissue and not to tear if it is enlarged further. However, the stretched puncture canal will recede after some time after removing the jewelry. Cutting the canal, on the other hand, is more painful and can only be reversed with another surgical procedure.

Another method of body modification with a similar effect is dermal punching , whereby no existing puncture channel is enlarged, but a correspondingly large hole is punched out directly. This method is usually used in the auricle, as cartilage tissue is relatively difficult to stretch. In addition, the healing process is usually faster because there is less pressure on the jewelry.

Tools

Expansion pins

Expansion pins in millimeters

Most piercings are widened with the help of an expansion pin. A conical pin (taper) coated with lubricant is inserted into the puncture channel and the jewelry with a larger diameter is then attached to the end of the expansion pin and pushed afterwards. An alternative to this is a circular "expansion screw". The expansion pins are available in different sizes and are defined by the larger end. There you have a hollow area to be able to attach the jewelry to be inserted better. Mostly they are made of stainless steel or acrylic . The length of the stretch pins varies between five and ten centimeters.

Weights

Lirong earlobes stretched with weights

The wearing of jewelry, which because of its heavy weight, expands tissue over a long period of time, is mainly known as a traditional method of various ethnic groups such as the Dayak in Borneo . However, this method is rarely used with modern piercings due to the lack of comfort. Especially on the ear, this method usually leads to a permanent thinning of the tissue.

PTFE tape / bondage tape

PTFE tape (color: white) and bondage tape (color: black) are considered to be smooth , frictionless and skin-friendly . PTFE tape is available in the sanitary department of hardware stores , bondage tape in sex shops . The jewelry is removed and a thin layer of non-adhesive Teflon tape or bondage tape is wrapped around the piercing. The jewelry is then reinserted and the process repeated as soon as the piercing has adapted to the larger diameter. Commercially available Teflon tape is about 0.1 millimeter thick. In order to achieve an average stretch rate of one millimeter per month, a new layer of Teflon tape is wrapped around the jewelry about every six days.

Other aids

In some cultures , children ’s ears are stretched

In addition to commercially produced and sold stretching pens, a wide variety of everyday objects such as simple knitting needles or ballpoint pens are often used for stretching. Either these are conical objects that become wider towards the end and have a smooth surface, or various smaller objects such as matches are used and gradually expanded with additional woods. There is an increased risk of infection due to poor hygiene or scratched materials.

Without the use of tools

Jewelery is seldom pushed through the existing piercing without the use of aids, which often leads to bleeding, inflammation or scarring and makes further stretching difficult. There is also the risk of turning out the entire puncture canal if used carelessly.

Some piercings also stretch by themselves simply by wearing jewelry. Usually this happens in places where the piercing is exposed to increased movements, or with regular pulling force.

scalpel

Dilated puncture canals or non-pierced parts of the body are less often cut open with the use of a scalpel . This procedure is often used to quickly bring the piercing to a larger diameter and to be able to use particularly large flesh tunnels or plugs . The position of a larger piercing can also be easily offset. The incision of the earlobes is known, for example, among the Maasai in East Africa.

Dimensions

In Europe, jewelry is measured in millimeters, in the USA, however, in American Wire Gauge , starting with 20 g up to 0000 g. Larger diameters are given in inches .

The following table shows the usual dimensions of the jewelry available.

millimeter Gauge inch
1.0 mm 18 g 5 ⁄ 127 ″
1.2 mm 16 g 3 ⁄ 64 ″
1.6 mm 14 g 1 ⁄ 16 ″
2.0 mm 12 g 5 ⁄ 64 ″
2.4 mm 10 g 3 ⁄ 32 ″
3.2 mm 8 g 1 ⁄ 8 ″
4.0 mm 6 g 5 ⁄ 32 ″
5.0 mm 4 g 3 ⁄ 16 ″
6.0 mm 2 g 1 ⁄ 4 ″
millimeter Gauge inch
8.0 mm 0 g 5 ⁄ 16 ″
10.0 mm 00 g 3 ⁄ 8 ″
11.0 mm 000 g 7 ⁄ 16 ″
12.7mm 0000 g 1 ⁄ 2 ″
14.0 mm - 9 ⁄ 16 ″
16.0 mm - 5 ⁄ 8 ″
19.0 mm - 3 ⁄ 4 ″
22.0 mm - 7 ⁄ 8 ″
25.4 mm - 1"

Jewellery

There is a large selection of usable piercing jewelry for widened piercings . As soon as the stretched piercing has healed, materials can also be used in which jewelry in smaller diameters is not available. In addition to simple ball closure rings and barbells in larger material thicknesses, special septum tusks can be worn in septum piercing , for example .

A plug or a hollow flesh tunnel is usually worn in the ear. The jewelry is available in various materials such as stone , wood , horn , silicone , amber or glass and often depicts a motif or pattern. Since many materials such as wood or horn breathe better than metal or plastic , there is less sebum formation.

In addition, there is also jewelry that is also used for stretching. Often in the form of spirals, it can be pushed further at regular intervals, thereby stretching the piercing.

  • Jewelry variation for stretched piercings

  • Horn septum tusks

  • Fake stretch sickle

In order to achieve the effect of a larger piece of jewelry without having to expand the piercing to a corresponding thickness beforehand, special productions, so-called fake piercings, can be worn, which are separated into two parts with the help of a thin bar and through an ordinary ear hole with a small piercing channel can be plugged. This creates the illusion of continuous jewelry with massive material thickness.

Healing and care

When stretching z. For example, microscopic cracks appear in the ear lobes, which, with good care, do not leave scar tissue that is difficult to stretch . So that no problems arise with further stretching, the ears only need a “rest”. As far as the elasticity and texture of the tissue allow, piercings to large diameters, e.g. B. the earlobes are brought to over 50 mm. The process of widening the ears is only partially reversible. The physical condition of the individual connective tissue determines the diameter up to which an ear hole contracts again. For some people this is up to 12 mm, for others only up to 4 mm, the latter often especially in the case of earlobes that have "grown onto the scalp".

The faster a piercing is stretched as large as possible, the smaller the diameter decreases after removing the jewelry. The more carefully and slowly a piercing is stretched, the further the diameter becomes smaller after the jewelry has been removed, but this also depends on the age and tissue of the wearer. Excessively or improperly stretched piercings can cause irreparable damage. Especially with larger diameters, both the piece of jewelery and the puncture canal should be cleaned regularly, as increased sebum deposits and odor formation can occur.

Jojoba oil has proven to be a well-suited care product for jewelry and earlobes .

The stretching of "cartilage piercings " such as conch piercings or stretched nostril piercings is extremely painful, which is why "stretching" can be avoided with these piercings by punching out the tissue . For a similar reason and to avoid a cheese cutter effect , z. For example, an Ampallang or Apadravya are pricked with at least 3 mm when first used - the pain when stretching is significantly more severe than when stabbing.

Problems and Risks

Especially with freshly stretched piercings, the skin is often thinner and more permeable for bacteria, which increases the risk of infection. With a stretched tongue piercing made of metal instead of PTFE , the jewelry could cause tooth damage. However, neither with a stretched tongue piercing nor after splitting the tongue, the articulation is impaired after the healing phase. Since there is often insufficient tissue material between the skin surface and the puncture channel, stretching a surface piercing can lead to the piercing growing out. Connective tissue that has been stretched too much and, in particular, deformations of cartilage tissue that occur during stretching are usually irreparable, which is why the stretching process must not be carried out too quickly. Tissue damage usually occurs as a result of excessive individual stretching steps. Recommendations vary widely; ideally, one is patient in order to keep the risk of damage as low as possible.

Legal

Minors need against frequent allegations of piercings, tattoos and Flesh Tunnel no consent of a parent or guardian ; the necessary tools and jewelry for stretching and inserting are available in online shops, which can also deliver to a packing station if necessary . The illegality of the intended bodily harm can be ruled out , for example, by a legally effective, possibly also oral consent of a minor in accordance with Section 228 of the Criminal Code , if the young person is able to recognize the significance and scope after his or her mental and moral maturity, whereby no specific age is required for this justifying consent; full legal capacity is not required if the person is able to consent. This is also the case with legal guardians if a piercer, for example to avoid legal problems, turns away underage customers who then stretch their ears themselves.

See also

Web links

Commons : Dilated Piercings  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elayne Angel: The Piercing Bible: The Definitive Guide to Safe Body Piercing . Crossing Press, ISBN 1-58091-193-5 ( piercingbible.com ).
  2. ^ Augustin Krämer : Hawaii, Eastern Micronesia and Samoa; my second trip to the South Seas (1897–1899) to study the atolls and their inhabitants . Strecker & Schröder, Stuttgart 1906, p. 409 f . ( archive.org ).
  3. ^ Roland Garve: Tooth jewelry from foreign cultures . In: Dental communications . tape 98 , January 1, 2008, ISSN  0341-8995 , p. 26-32 .
  4. ↑ Martina Fritsch: Planet Knowledge - Four primitive peoples. WDR, June 1, 2009, accessed January 25, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Angel, E. (2009). The piercing bible: the definitive guide to safe body piercing. Crossing Press. ISBN 978-1-58091-193-1
  6. ↑ Ear Lobe Stretching FAQ. OneTribe LLC, accessed January 25, 2014 .
  7. ↑ Proper Care for Flesh Tunnel & Plugs , accessed June 24, 2015
  8. ↑ Flesh Tunnel stretch blowout ( Memento of the original from June 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed June 24, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tunnelpiercing.de
  9. ↑ Better advice - legal advice by phone. Deutsche Anwaltshotline AG, accessed on February 9, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Jurisprudence on § 228 StGB. dejure.org, accessed February 9, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Piercings, parties, sex - What can parents prohibit teenagers? “The others do it too!” Focus Online , November 1, 2014, accessed on May 7, 2015 .