nose piercing help? was pierced at wrong gauge?????

at the end of May 2025(almost a year ago), I booked an appointment with a (i thought) reputable piercer whom i had seen before, asking for two 16g nostril piercings. I got them done and they have healed excellently so far. I had the jewelry changed by the piercer to a flat back threadless titanium post a while ago.
zero problems! not even a single bump

…except….

they’re actually 18g.

yesterday upon preparing to get new jewelry to switch to rings/circular barbells, i was inspecting my old jewelry and found that…i was pierced at and fitted with 18g jewelry. so i have some places i am looking for advice.

1. if i do stretch them up to 16g, would i have to wait another full year to be safely able to put rings in? (i can’t even FIND the jewelry i wanted this whole time at an 18g.)

2. is it… reasonable to be upset at the piercer? i didn’t think i would have to confirm the gauge size when there since i included that information when clarifying what i wanted when i booked the appointment in the first place. and he verbally quoted another part of my request when i arrived. he never said anything about it like it being a better gage to use or being out of jewelry or anything, and just silently did it at 18g instead. (to the point where i didn’t even realize until a year later.)

i am a little at a loss of how to solve this mainly in that i am pissed i paid as much as i did to be pierced at a gauge i didn’t want, unbeknownst to me. and now i’m the one who has to fix it a year later when the piercer is the one who didn’t tell me what was happening. :/ is it worth reaching out or leaving some sort of review, or am i actually the idiot here for not confirming???