Is there a way to thicken up your lobes so you can stretch to bigger gauges. what i mean is, i'm at 7/16 right now, and the lobe around the plug is getting thin, i heard that if you gauge down, then back up, then down, up and so forth, that it will get the lobe nice and thick and strong. is this true?

I'm just speaking from experience, but my left ear has terrible placement, and Ive done that several times, and it really only worked for the lobe that had GOOD placement.

Try oil rubs. Leaving your plugs out overnight couldn't hurt either.