Be warned: This is a pretty grisly story, and the photos after the jump are not pretty. We’ll let the gentleman pictured above take it away:
“It’s a chilly Saturday morning and snowboarding sounded like precisely what the day needed. Unfortunatly, the closest New Hampshire mountain was a bone chilling -14 degrees with a 30 mph wind chill. But did this stop me? Nahhh. I packed up and a friend and I headed up to good ole NH for some morning/afternoon shredding.
“After approximately five or six hours of being blasted in the face with negative-degree weather, I thought not feeling my ears was a side effect of just being a bit under-dressed for the occasion — no big deal …
“VERY BIG DEAL. Getting home, I noticed my lobes — or whatever skin I had from my 1 1/4″ stretched lobes — was frozen solid. Literally, to the touch, frozen, and to make it better? The bottom skin was black. So I, being the smart person I am, decided to just go sleep and let them defrost. Wrong again. I woke up a few hours later and noticed some bleeding, some liquid discharge, and some ripping. Forcing the plug out was no easy task, by any means; they were basically frozen to my skin. Finally, after getting them both off, I popped a seemingly gross mid-sized bubble of liquidy stuff and the skin just peeled off like a grape … revealing fresh, bare, bleeding skin.
“Noticing a pattern here, I decided to go to the ER and try to get Medicare, because in this situation, of course, I don’t have any insurance. That’d be ridiculous, right? All the nurses were shocked my earlobes were still attached, as if they would’ve just fallen right off my face for some reason. Basically, the worst day ever. I am not allowed to wear any earrings for about three months to see if anything heals itself or if they have to re-construct or just cut the lobe off.
“Don’t go outside and risk life and — literally — limb. Be cautious. That’s my moral for this story.”
Comments
116 responses to “Stretched Lobes and Frostbite: A Cautionary Tale”
i have to walk just over a mile to work and this year i converted those stretchy coton gloves to a pocket put those over my 2 7/8″ lobes wrap a scarf around my neck, and outside my ears, a winter cap2 hoodies hood up and my jacket. if that doesn’t keep them warm nothing will. and i wont walk if it’s under 20 degrees out. i’ll take the bus.
EEk. I was in whistler this christmas and suffering in the -26 Celsius in the apine. i always made sure that i’m wearing horn or wood jewelry, and something is covering my lobes (usually a helmet with ear flaps.)
Owwww, my ears did the same thing two years ago (extremely cold winter, -30 degrees celsius), and healed in a month or so… but not without infernal suffering.
when i saw this on modblog i was surprised it was even on here. getting attention for being a fucking retard. its common sense. anybody with stretched lobes should know this. u guys are picking this apart wondering what to wear and what not to wear. ever seen a christmas story where the boy sticks his tongue to the pole. come the fuck on. this isnt rocket science. take ur shit out when ur outside in the cold for long periods of time. even if u just stretched. lose the stretch instead of lose ur lobes. im at almost 3 inches after 11 yrs it comes naturally. i dont feel sorry for him and he deserves what he gets. and to top it off i bet he had hardcore scene stainless steel tough guy tunnels in. quit giving this retard love.
ps. im not a dick, i just have common sense and it makes me fucking puke how u guys feel sorry for him.
damn i just realized thats why my ears are always cold i forgot to think that metal conducts cold air and my lobes are at 12g right now i gotta be more careful now when i stretch them down to 8 this week hope they heal well and cover up keep them warm
I wish id taken pics of when i forced a 1″ inch gauge in. I thought the pain was normal. It felt like someone had stuck a machete in my brain. After about 8 hours and alot of vicodin i just couldnt take it anymore so i had my mom help me cut the earrings out. which lead to the entire inside of my earlobes coming off in a complete circle. it was like a ring. I could put it on my finger like a ring. it was nasty. i then had to take antibiotics because of a massive infection that led to me having HUGE grapefruit like lymphnodes. it was a nasty experience.
idiot.
my ears are fine now. they shrunk to 1/2 and havent gone down any further than that. this happened back in like 2008. its been about 2 years now.. so everythings good
@#104
ouch reggie, way to be a total dick. they weren’t tough guy eyelets. im a piercer by profession and i DO know the differences and the do’s and dont’s of weather and jewelry. it was clearly a poor decision. i had my ears covered. the wind was brutal and just seep’d through enough to cause damage without me actually knowing. so blah blah blah its over with.
Damn !
looks painfull 😀
I work in -40 degree freezers and have 1inch gauges. I’m going through this right now. I had to take mine out as well, thank god I was wearing silicone so they were easy to get out. It sounds like you had 3rd degree frostbite. I have 2nd degree. I got some pretty bad blisters.
I’m form NH and that sucks… it gets fucking cold here.
I was once taking an ex boyfriend home one (who had 1 1/2 gauges) and he was complaining there way I was blaring the A/C was putting him and his lubes in extreme pain… me being an ass hole thinking it was funny turned it even lower… now I have gauged ears… joke isn’t funny anymore for some reason…lol
I went out snowshoeing today for my conservation class and felt a small amount of frost on my ears, thankfully they seem safe now, but the night hasnt ended yet so hopefully they’ll be fine tomorrow! I’d be heartbroken if my 1-5/8th ears were done in.
Thankfully my ears arent dead, but theyre hibernating for the winter…. This has been the worst experience ever, my ears got so chappened and have pealed. Hate. Winter.
Quit bashing. We’re all human and make mistakes, whether you’d like to admit it or not.