Painful Industrial Experience

At A Glance Author Justin Contact Justin@bme.anon Artist ?? Studio Ottos Location bowling green

About a year or a year and a half ago I had been looking on BME at piercings. I was particularly interested in ear piercings. I liked the tragus piercing and industrial piercing the best. I figured my mom and dad wouldn't really go for the industrial piercing but that I could get away with the tragus (seeing I was still living in their house). So I got my tragus pierced on my 18th birthday. When I had gotten that done they had me lay on my side and stuck the needle thru the back of my ear. The pain was really bad! It bled instantly after the needle came out of my ear and didn't stop for about an hour. I wasn't even aloud to leave the studio until it stopped bleeding!

Now that I've gone away to school I figured I could get away with the industrial piercing. I wouldn't be at home as much and so my parents wouldn't have to look at it on a daily basis. So I went to Otto's tattoo and piercing studio in "downtown BG" with my friend Jen. It seemed to be a place that a lot of people went to in the area. The piercing only cost $13 (which now makes me wonder).

The studio itself looked just like any other tattoo place. The walls were full of tattoo pictures and such. The usual people were standing around; the guy with all the piercings, the guy with all the tattoos and just regular customers. Otto himself is a very vocal man to say the least. He seemed to blurt whatever was on his mind about people. The piercing was more laid back however.

I explained that I wanted to get an industrial piercing in my left ear (the same ear I have my tragus in). The piercer had me fill out some forms and show I.D. and he explained the procedures. He said that he would draw some dots and put the needle thru twice. He told me that he had only done a couple industrial piercings before me.

So I was brought into a room in the back of the studio and sat down. The piercer got all his equipment ready and he showed me the needle and jewelry coming out of a package. He drew a couple of dots on my ear and showed me where the barbell was going to go thru. Then he told me he was ready to do it.

I felt the needle go thru the first dot and it didn't hurt too bad (no more than any other cartiledge piercing). Then the needle went thru the second hole extremely slow and extremely painfully. It had to be one of the most painful feelings I had ever felt! I figured since I had my tragus pierced it couldn't hurt much more than that but it hurt like a bitch! I don't think it would have even have been so bad if I hadn't felt the effects of the hole. Then as the piercer rammed the barbell thru the holes and my ear began to bleed. He got me something to drink and wouldn't let me leave until the bleeding stopped (deja vu?).

I was instructed to clean the piercing about 2-3 times a day. The piercer told me to pinch my ear together to make some slack on the barbell and to clean it with some kind of cleaning solution on a Q-tip. Cleaning is such a bitch! It was really painful just to pinch your ear like that. It also hurt like hell sometimes just when the solution would touch the open holes.

Now, I just recently took the piercing out because it didn't seem like the healing process was going anywhere...after about three or so months my ear felt just the same as it did when it was pierced. It was constantly hurting and swelling. Although I really like the apperance of the industrial, I had to take it out. I also had my second tongue piercing done at Otto's and had to take that out because it wasn't healing properly (I've never had a problem with the first hole and still don't). I've never had a problem with my first tongue piercing and tragus piercing though (both of which were done at All Tattoos).

I've seen some of the tattoo work done at Otto's and thought it looked pretty good but I'm now weary of piercings done there...not to mention the fact that they'd run sales on piercings. I guess you shouldn't look for a deal on piercings but rather a good piercer (although that may seem obvious). In the long run you'll end up wasting your money if you go for money over the quality. That's all.