So I'm over here in Ireland, and they go by millimeters rather than the gauges I'm used to... easy enough to look up on the conversion chart that I'm at 2mm/12g.  I went to a local shop today to get the next size up (I've been at 12g for about 4 months... I would have ordered from BAF of course but I wanted it immediately!).  They told me it was 4mm, and were quite certain there was nothing in between 2mm and 4mm.  I asked them a few times if they were sure, I thought the next was like 2.6, maybe 3 mm.

 Anyhow... I let this guy who has "been piercing for 15 yrs" taper my 12g to 4 mm, and it really didn't feel right, I thought maybe I skipped one step.  Then I got home and found out that 4mm is a 6 gauge!!!!!  Well, I think I could have left it in and it would have healed eventually, but I took em out and put the 12g back in!  There was a small amount of bleeding but nothing major, by some miracle I don't think I even have a blowout.

 I learned my lesson today   I should have just told them I thought they were wrong and left!

 yes you should have.

I too learned through experience, I'll never allow another person to stretch any pierced body part of mine. Another person does not have the sensory feedback that you have and subsequently cannot prevent damage as quickly as you.

Good luck healing, I'm sorry to hear that you had to find this out the hard way.

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 i'm sorry to hear that. i wouldn't let anyone else stretch my lobes. but seriously...... i haven't let anyone else cut my hair either... in years.. but i think i'm almost ready again [ to have someone else do it. ]

i have a freind who has been getting his lobes stretched at a shop, and it's been fine [ actually i think his ears have been allowing it on thier own, much to his chagrin, because he always seems ready for the next stretch by the time he goes in. this guy takes really good care of himself, too [ eats very well ]. so that might be part of it.  ] he always complains that it seems too easy. ha

What shop did you go to? If you'd posted before going I might have been able to recommend somewhere for you.

 The next size up should be 2.4mm, then 3.2mm, then at 4mm the metric system kicks in and you can pretty much only buy stuff in shops/studios in 1mm or 2mm increments.

Personally I wouldn't let anyone other than me stretch my lobes.

(Yes I know I'm double posting, I can't edit/delete my original post without getting an error). 

 BAF goes through a little bit of an outage every day around 1 am. :]

NGauge:

What shop did you go to? If you'd posted before going I might have been able to recommend somewhere for you.

 I went to a place in Limerick (where I'm currently studying) called "Destiny Body Piercing," they also have a tattoo shop attached called Spiral Tattoo.

 (edit: are there good places in Cork?)

Yeah I certainly will only be stretching my own lobes from now on... it was the first time I've had someone else do it