I really want to do 4's :) and like i have said in other questions about gauging i have only had 8's and i didn't have them in for very long and they went back to normal size pretty fast. --I know if you gauge em to big and leave them in for to long and then take em out you have to get your lobe's cut off or whatever. I don't want that</3
Uhm, it's different for everyone, but the well-known POINT OF NO RETURN is said to be 5/8ths. When you're young your ears can probably go back from anything. I've been at an inch now for almost a year and I would have no problem down-sizing if I wanted, but when i'm in my 40's who knows. Maybe i'll be able to go back down and maybe I wont.
I had my ears gauged for years and I took them out cause my ears rejected even glass jewlery but they closed up just fine, you can see the holes had been bigger then normal but they closed within a day.