I just got mine done in November. Unfortunately the skin of my right ear grew over the flat back they put in. So I had to get the ER doctor to remove it (unfortunately he had no idea what he was doing so, like those blister packs for medicine, he popped my earring out like he was popping a pill out of one of those blister packs. So I had to wait a month before getting my ear re-pierced.
Unfortunately my ear started to do the same thing again, but this time I was able to push my earring through the back, and I was able to remove the flat back stud the piercer put in, back in February. Since then I've been wearing studs with bullet backs to bed, and most days some nice hoops, either the middle size ones or the large ones (I bought a 10-karat three pack with the three sizes—-the smallest I find just look too masculine on me, but the medium and large look very feminine on me—-I don't know why). I haven't had any stretching or tearing, although where I work I sometimes have to go into a freezer (-18C) and after a while I can feel the metal starting to freeze my earlobe.
