Hey, so I searched and searched, and just didn't really find what I'm looking for.  I know WHY people scalpel, to redirect piercings, etc, but HOW does it work??  I noticed the other day that my plugs are pretty close to my head! lol  Explain it to me! 

A professional uses a scalpel to slice a slit away from a weak or thin spot to enlarge or redirect a hole. I'm not really sure where the confusion arises. You could probably find videos on YouTube of a procedure in action, that may help.

 haha  Sorry. I just didn't know which way they slice.  Like horizontally?  Vertically?  I just don't understand how it keeps the hole 'round' ya know?  Sorry. lol  I don't grasp things...I should go to bme and look at pics or something. 

The direction of the cut depends on the direction of the thin or thicker area of tissue. Each case is different.

 Cool, thanks.

My ears are scalpelled and they only look round immediately after removing my plugs. After awhile they look kind of slitty, although you couldn't really tell unless I told you myself.

Yeah, I'm only at 4g, and my ears wrinkle back up after a little while.  So, if you had to do it all over again, would you?  I'm thinkin I might have to get mine done if I decide to go much bigger.  Some of my plugs almost touch my head and there's tons of room on the outside.  My goal is just 0g (maybe 00g if my ears support it.) because my husband's not too keen on the whole stretching thing.

Axon: Just saw what you said about YouTube.  I wasn't going to admit it, but after your 'where's the confusion' comment, I ran over to YouTube to watch it. lol  As soon as I saw a video, I was like, "OOOOooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh."  Like, DUH, what did I not understand about that. lol  It's like slicing a roll and opening it to put butter in it...hahaha  I just thought that it would stay a slit.  I didn't realize that they 'sliced' it, then put a taper through to get the jewelry in.  I thought they sliced out a chunk, like made a circle. (Not like punching...THAT I understand. lol)  I should have just YouTube'd it in the first place.  hehe

Thanks!

It depends on the artist- some like to cut slits, others like to remove a core of tissue. In my case it was the former. :)

 Is one method better than the other?

Edit: Okay, I just found a couple pictures.  They're a little hard to see, but you can definitely tell how much more room there is on the outside of the plugs... Plus my earlobes are different, too, which doesn't help. lol

4g Kaos; left ear:

 

Right ear (Kind of a weird angle):

 

 

 4g looks huge on you! I got scalpelled from 4-00g last August. 

 Naked ears prior:

Fresh cut and very swollen:

Healed, 00g sf eyelets:

My ears rapidly self stretched up to my goal of 1/2", about 12 weeks after healing I had moved to 10mm. I still have gumby ears and can easily fit 9/16" in, even mild double flares. 

I think whether tissue is removed or not mostly depends on the person's needs and anatomy. I was scalpelled from 4g to 00g as well, and the person who did it for me said he would have had to remove some tissue had I wanted to get scalpelled to a larger size because there's not enough lobe to cut a longer slit for me.

Your ears look like mine!! YAY  Yeah, those plugs look huge...it's the Kaos solid front.  I have some no flares in (w/O-rings) today..I'll take a pic when I get a chance. 

So, it worries me that you stretched on your own after you were scalpeled.  I really REALLY don't want to go any bigger than 00g.  Like that's my absolute max.  0g is really my goad, but 00g is the extreme max.  Is self-stretching typical after scalpelling??

And thanks ya'll!  You've been super helpful! :-D  Feeding my curious mind!

I would say it's pretty typical, but you can always downsize from time to time and go naked or wear earskins or something else light to avoid it.

You could also cut to 0g and stretch to 00g after it's healed. :)

rat: I only wear light stuff...of course, I'm only at 4g, so there's not much heavy jewelry this small. lol  I usually wear acrylic or silicone, with the occassional stone plug.  So, now I'm confused (What's new right?).  People say to massage when you want to make your ears stretchy, then people say to stretch when you're downsizing.  How does massaging make your ears stretchy AND downsize?  I don't get it.

EDIT: Sorry, rat..I just read your post again, and you didn't saying about massaging. lol  But I HAVE seen people say to massage when they want their ears to close up...

sundaisy: Yeah, that's what I'd do, if I need to be scalpelled.  Should I try to stretch up to 2, then 0 on my own?  Or just go to a piercer before I do anything?  (I'm not planning on doing anything for atleast a few months.  I've only been at 4g for just over 2 months.)  I mean, I'd like to avoid scalpelling all together, but if it's needed to keep my earrings from touching my head, then it's what I'll do.  I just, like I said, don't want it to end up stretching itself because I really don't want to go bigger than 00.  My ears aren't very stretchy, though.  I can't even get some DFs in.

 This thread is turning out to be a lot more that I had planned.  But I'm glad ya'll are being so helpful!  Thanks again!