I'd heard a lot about conch piercings. Namely, that they were painful, horrible, terrible, and that the needle created a lovely popping sound as it grazed through your flesh. Needless to say, I went for it anyway. After several other ear piercings/projects (ie: many standard lobe piercings, a standard industrial, rook, tragus, and cartilage piercings), I figured it couldn't be that bad, and to be honest, the procedure itself went very smoothly - the easiest piercing so far.
At A Glance Author Anonymous Contact Anonymous@bme.anon Artist Michael Studio Andromeda Location New York, NY I've been to Andromeda several times before for piercings and insertions, and while their studio is clean and professional, I choosen them mainly for convenience, as I tend to be rather spontaneous when it comes to punching holes in my body. Various people I know hold a bit of disdain for their counter staff, but I've managed to strike up decent conversations with a few of the employees; if I had to deal with some of the people stopping in, I'd probably be wary of random customers and kids, too. Honestly, after visiting some other shops in New York, I'll definitely be going elsewhere for any future work; my first piercing experience (nostril) at Andromeda was less than keen (very rude and rather rough piercer), and I was hesitant to go back for the conch.
Regardless, the piercer, Michael, was courteous and personable and all of those important (yet seemingly scarce) things. The piercing was (I swear!) pretty painless (and no loud popping noise audible, thankfully); overall, not a bad present to myself after spending a lousy Thanksgiving alone and sequestered in an ampty apartment. The usual pre-procedural things: picking out jewelry (the 10ga ring I brought with me turned out to be too small in diameter, so I chose a 12ga - SS with SS captive bead), filling out forms (which automatically makes me feel a bit better, as I was tattooed at a supposedly highly reputable shop a few weeks ago and wasn't asked to sign any forms..), paying, and heading back to the piercing room.
One thing that bothered me in retrospect about the piercing process was the lack of information conveyed to me by the piercer. Obviously, I've been pierced before and as I was wearing several healed ear piercings, he probably assumed that I was already very familiar with the piercing and healing procedures. While I was already very aware as to what the piercing and healing would entail, it still seemed a bit odd that no information was given. Perhaps I'm a bit bratty about this, but just as all piercers and tattoo artists should always, under all circumstances, make their clients sign forms of age verification and/or consent and/or liability, all piercers and artists should take the time and effort to explain a little bit about what is going on - how they're preparing (yes, I know what an autoclave is, but it would be appreciated if you'd still note that you use one, that that is indeed what you are removing those instruments from, etc), what prep work will be done before the piercing (ie: what they're applying to your skin, if a receiving tube will be used), and how and when they will pierce (ie: on the count of three).
Unfortunately, Michael explained none of these things to me; he simply sped around, sat me down, cleaned my ear, marked the spot, showed me in the mirror, and then pierced me.
As soon as I had entered the room, set down my bag, and taken off my jacket, he began preparing he materials. I took a seat, and within three minutes, it was over. I definitely prefer a quick piercing, yet again, I was surprised at how he didn't find it necessary to explain to me what he was doing. Luckily, I already knew he was going to insert the needle while I did the big "breathe in," but had I not known that, I think I would have been in for a big surprise. Generally, the piercing was extremely quick and I only bled a tiny bit (as compared to my industrial, which spurted all over the place). I got to see the nice little chunk of flesh removed from my ear (pretty funky looking), and after a brief headrush, I grabbed my bags and after a tip and thank you, I headed out. On my way out, I was passed an aftercare sheet (which I promptly trashed), and that was that.
As far as the healing has gone, I'm pretty disappointed in that realm. For the first week, the piercing was great - only a bit sore, not at all swollen, pretty normal in color. However, in the span of a few hours, I was both hit in the ear (as a "joke") and had the ring slightly torn in a tickling match. My ear immediately began to swell the next day, and it became pretty obvious that the ring had ripped the hole down and slightly outwards about a millimeter - which might not seem like much, but has caused a ton of trouble since then. In the past six months, the piercing has wavered between almost entirely healed and very aggravated. I clean it every day, once a day, in the shower; during periods in which a lovely fluid-filled cyst-looking-thing appears around the piercing (for some reason, these fluid sacs refuse to drain on their own and become very annoying), I'll soak my ear in sea salt water. (Note: for the first two weeks, I used very diluted Bactine once a day, as well).
For the first four and a half months, my conch was almost always reddened and swollen, painful to touch. After revisiting Andromeda at that point, I was told that while it was, of course, my choice whether or not to abandon the piercing, they would advise me to keep it in. I've left it in, with the original jewelry, since then. It seems that a barbell would not really help the healing procress, due to the angle of the piercing and whatnot. Also, according to the placement of the tiny yet not-draining fluid-filled-sacs, it appears that the problems are pretty much directly in relation to the ripping of the piercing; the "new" side is healed, yet the old side - the initially pierced inner and upper side - is still testy. About a month ago, the piercing had appeared to have finally healed; all inflammation, soreness, and redness had disappeared. However, a new fluid-sac appeared two weeks ago (and has subsequently, again, disappeared).
Needless to say, this review/experience is a bit muddled and probably pretty inconclusive; I'll definitely be keeping the jewelry in for a few more months, but after a year, I think I'll be ready to call it a truce and seek out something else to modify.