| At A Glance | |
| Author | snowmellen |
| Contact | snowmellen@bme.anon |
| IAM | snowmellen |
| When | Six months ago |
| Artist | Pete |
| Studio | MIld to Wild |
| Location | Ottawa, Ontario |
The Piercing
Weeks in advance, I'd picked the day that I wanted to go, so after work I made a quick snack and then drove downtown (on the way I stopped at a bank machine to pick up some cash). I didn't really have a plan of where I'd planned to go for it, not having a close relationship with any of the piercers in the city. I knew what I was looking for in a studio though: friendly, experienced staff, a general feeling of knowledge and comfort, and the telltale traces of aseptic practices. So with that in mind I found some parking (hard to do in downtown Ottawa) popped some money in the meter and proceeded to walk up Laurier blvd, where there are at least 5 studios in the space of about two blocks. I knew which ones to stay away from already, but that still left me with a few to choose from. One studio that I'd been to before was, sadly, closed for the day. Another I went into I got a "wrong" feel from the atmosphere; I just couldn't see myself comfortable being pierced there. So I pr oceede d upwards to where Laurier meets Dalhousie. Tucked into the corner on Dalhousie there's a little shop called Mild to Wild. I went in, it's quite a small little place, but clean, and best of all the staff was sweet, knowledgeable and friendly. The piercer, Pete, came out right away at the sounds of my inquiry, he was more than happy to discuss it with me and his experience (he's a dedicated piercer, does nothing else, which is as I think it should be) and his wonderful, funky bedside manner put me right at ease. This felt like the "right" place, for sure. We spoke a little of the procedure: he always pierces with two CBR's to start of with (if you want a barbell he suggests you go somewhere else) and you can come back two months later for the barbell. The procedure was $60, which I was more than pleased to pay; I then filled out my form and showed my ID.
Pete took me to one of the back rooms (the piercing room) and I sat up on the padded, black table. We talked about the placement, and where I wanted it, and then he marked me with a purple pen. He had me get down off the bench and use the large mirror on the wall and a small hand mirror to look at the placement. The positioning of the top hole was perfect, but I wanted the bottom hole a millimeter or two lower; it would put the piercing on slightly more of a diagonal, but it would also go right through a section of my helix that is naturally a little thicker than the rest, and would correspond with a small notch out of the same section of my other ear (I have a big thing for balance and symmetry). He had no problem with that, and to his credit he warned me that it would be on more of a diagonal, so would expose more of the bar. I was fine with that- I meant it meant to be seen (and would be seen anyways, I don't have particularly fleshy ears compared to some people, a nd my helix doesn't curl around enough to obscure much of my ear anyways). So then I sat again on the padded table and got myself aligned properly as he got all of his supplies out. He scrubbed my ear with betadine and we made smalltalk. He showed me the two, brand-new-and-in-the-package needles he would be using to pierce me with and explained, although familiar to me, that cartilage work is done with a needle one size larger than the jewelry to prevent excessive pressure. This meant that I would be getting pierced with a pair of 12 gauge needles, which, I'll confess, look substantially large, and certainly so compared to the much friendlier 22 1/2 I'm used to for drawing blood. He pulled out the CBR's in autoclaved baggies and explained that they were new, and they would me mine to keep even after I changed to the barbell, since he certainly didn't want them back for someone else. We both made "eww gross" faces at that idea. So now after a couple gloves changes and a bunch of talk, we were ready for the actual piercing.
He picked up the first needle, lubed it up and had me sit steady. He reminded me to keep breathing, nice and steady, and asked if I was ready. I certainly was, the chat was great, but I'd come down here for a pierce and I had no intention of doing anything like backing out. That and I don't really dread needles all that much: a slow, agonizing intramuscular injection (which I'm all too familiar with) done by the ever-too-caution, fresh-out-of-college nurse is infinitely more painful than the swift bite of a piercing needle. He lined up the needle with my ear, the first hole would be the lower one, on the portion of my helix that's the farthest from where the pinna (the "ear" part of your ear) attaches to the head. I could feel the slight prick and pressure sitting there for and instant, and then he pushed it through; swift and easy, like through butter, there was no problem, no sound. He asked me how I was feeling and if I needed to lie down, all the while keeping a clo se wat ch on my face and eyes. I said I was fine, and meant it; the actual piercing had been thoroughly anticlimactic. He asked if I was ready for the second and I smiled and answered "of course". Again, through the same routine, needle, lube, rest it there for a few seconds until I was slightly relaxed, and then begin to push it through. Except this time it wasn't so easy. I know from playing with my own ears that the upper portion of my helix has some very thick cartilage, and not too much else in the way of flesh. It was much harder to get through than the lower part, so much so that poor Pete grimaced as he put some serious muscle power into pushing in through. For me, it felt like it took a long time, although I know it was probably barely a millisecond longer. It was long enough, however, that I had the chance to register the fact that my legs were shaking and my hands clenched from the effort of sitting still and enduring it. It did, finally, slide through, and we both s ighed in relief. Pete had me get down off the bench and go take a look in the mirror again, to see exactly how straight he'd pierced it. I looked at it; the needles were completely lined up, absolutely beautiful placement (I applaud his skill at such precision on a living, breathing medium). He had me sit back down, and carefully put in the 14 gauge CBR's that I would be healing with. His touch was so gentle that I felt absolutely no tugging or pressure at all, just some light brushes around my ear, and then I was proclaimed to be finished. Again I was allowed to look elatedly in the mirror, and then as we walked out of the piercing room I was strictly schooled in the aftercare regime. He recommends Bactine cleaning and sea salt soaks 4 to 5 times a day while it heals, as well as a zinc supplement (50mg/day) to bolster your immune system. I received a handout reminding me of this, as well as a business card and the admonition to call if [I]anything[/I], no matter how small, seem ed str ange or if I had any questions. I thanked him profusely, walked to my car and drove home.
The first, lower hole was now felling slightly warm, but the upper hole was certainly throbbing the ache of traumatized tissue. I felt the incessant need as I was walking to touch it, and roughly schooled myself not to do so. The piercings had not bled at all at this point, (convenient, since my tragus had bled to holy hell) and I got home without incident.
The Healing
summer
I'm sure you've heard before that healing an industrial is a long, slow, painful process. Well I'm no different. If you thought the above was long, then you should probably click the "back" button on your browser right about now, because this is going to be even longer (but more valuable in my opinion).
First off, I'm pretty aware of not only how I heal, but also how healing works in general, so I chose not to follow Pete's instructions exactly. He recommends Bactine, which is great stuff, a good antibacterial agent, that's easy to apply and that doesn't need to be meticulously cleaned off like a soap. But Bactine has one, pretty serious drawback. It only has a shelf life of about 2 months, thereafter it becomes a wonderful medium for all sort of bacterial growth (yuck). So I'm a little hesitant to use it, to say the least. I prefer to use a good, solid, antibacterial/antimicrobial soap once a day in the shower in the morning, after I finish shampooing my hair, and rinse heavily. This, i find, not only helps keep the piercing free from infectious agents, but also removes oil and shed skin, and feels good and refreshing. Then i do salt soaks throughout the day. And since I already take a vitamin supplement as well as eat healthily, I felt that a zinc supplement wasn't too ne cessary.
I waited until bedtime, and then soaked it gingerly in my warm saline solution, head-sideways, ear-in-cup style. The soak freed up some small bits of crusted blood, and soothed it a little bit, but the upper hole was still sore and throbbing slightly as I took care to lie down to sleep on the other side. The next morning I inspected it before I climbed into the shower, again there was a small amount of crusted blood, and the area was reddened, warm and in general slightly swollen, as expected- those are the hallmarks of acute inflammatory response to the injury it had suffered. I cleaned it gingerly with my soap, a dilute chlorhexadine solution (that's the active ingredient in Provon and Hibitane) and rinsed well. Then I headed off to work equipped with sea salt, q-tips and a small cup. About 3 times during the day I'd get up and go to the washroom, run some tap water as warm as I could stand it and make up some saline solution, then I'd use two q-tips (one for each ho le to reduce cross-contamination between the two sites) dipped in the solution to soak, and another two to rinse. This was the routine that I followed faithfully for the next month, as I was pierced at the beginning of august, and I would be back to school in the fall. I found that I had a small amount of bloody crusties (the q-tip would come away with a smear of rust colour after the soak) for about the first week, and then after that all I had was a minute amount of dried, straw-coloured crustiness for the next month. The redness and swelling went down after a week as well, and the lower hole felt fine unless it was bumped, but the upper hole still ached slightly and was very sensitive to touch or bumping. I learned to sleep on my opposite side (and realized that naturally I'd rather be sleeping with that ear down) or curl my arm around under my head as a pillow, allowing my ear to remain pressure-free.
fall
A week before I was leaving for school I called down to Mild to Wild to order my barbell. It was only a month into my healing, but Pete had agreed that if I promised to wait to put it in, he'd give it to me so I could have it when I moved and wouldn't have the hassle of trying to get back to Ottawa sometime to get it. The morning that I was leaving I drove downtown to the studio and inquired about it, Pete came out and explained that his shipment had been delayed and he would have it the week after, since I was needing an in-between length (1 3/8) that he didn't normally stock. I was crestfallen, I was driving the u-haul down that afternoon. He agreed that once it was in and I was all set up in my new place that I'd call and have it mailed down.
So I left, and continued my aftercare. I fell into a new, less intensive routine, cleaning with the soap in the shower in the mornings, and soaking it, ear-in-cup, at night. I generally began to let my body take over its own healing, and just working to keep the irritation to a minimum. All was going well, although I was having trouble getting a hold of Pete to get my barbell. The lower hole felt as though it were getting close to being , and would only hurt when subjected to a snag with the hairbrush, the upper hole healing more slowly and still prone to pain. Then it was into wintertime and there was a good cold snap during the last week in December, bringing us our belated winter.
winter
I was spending a sizeable time of the day walking outside or in cold conditions, and under conditions such as these I usually find that my upper pinnae get very cold (not much circulation to the area). With the industrial, I found this coldness to actually become a sharp, freezing pain, like what happens when you hold ice in your hands for too long. This I worked to counteract by pulling up my hood or wearing a hat, but on several occasions I reached this painful level of coldness, and that definitely had some unpleasant effects. One morning I awoke and on inspection, I found that the upper hole had developed a sizable bubble-like swelling beside the hole. It was raised, reddened and appeared fleshy. It's granulation tissue, which is a congregation of white blood cells, protein, and scar tissue-generating cells, that's a response to chronic inflammation and irritation. This is the beginning of what could be some heavy scarring and perhaps some small hypertrophic growth, certai nly not my idea of a good time. It was definitely a discouraging point in the healing, and I certainly didn't want to be left with something so ugly as "proud flesh"- a keloid. I was careful to reduce as much irritation as I could, especially to keep it warm at all times. I used the cleaning in the shower to do some light massaging, stimulating blood flow to the area to promote clean healing. Within a few days the lump had decreased in size considerably, and no longer had the appearance of being quite so fleshy and raw. Within a few weeks of care it was reduced to an almost invisible red, firm spot on the lip of the hole. The only problem that I discovered was that the perfect original placement had shifted slightly. The growth of the small, residual kernel of scar tissue had slightly rotated the upper piercing forwards slightly. None of my friends, when I assaulted them, distraught, could really see the change, but I knew my body and could see the small shift. I worried about what would happen when I finally put the barbell through. I still was having trouble connecting with Pete to get my barbell mailed up, and on a brief visit to Ottawa over Christmas I stopped by the studio, only to find it closed for holiday hours (I guess there's not all that much business over Christmas).
I continued the daily cleaning in the shower because it left the piercing feeling really good, but I by this time I had abandoned salt soaks, finding that i didn't need them to soothe it, and preferring instead to let my body do its own thing. Everything was now going well again, even the upper hole was no longer so sensitive and definitely thinking about settling down to a more healed state. Then somehow, I managed to irritate the lower hole. I think it had something to do with sleeping on it funny, but I found that I had the same immediate appearance of granulation tissue that I had had with the upper hole about a month and a half earlier. It was smaller response, and again I took to massaging gently in the shower while I soaped. Quite rapidly, within about 2 days it was beginning to recede, but I began to worry about having it migrate slightly as did the upper one. I figured that getting a barbell would help to keep it slightly aligned, since the shift, if it occurred, would only be minimal, and would not pose any great threat in terms of large amounts of pressure. I had basically given up on getting a barbell from Pete, sadly enough. I was in Toronto and looked in the yellow pages for all the tattoo and piercing studios in the area. I began calling, asking to see if they had my size barbell, and for their price. I found what I needed for a reasonable amount at Catwalk Studios. I went in and talked a bit to the guy there, who was extremely helpful and friendly. He cautioned me that I might want to wait longer for the holes to be truly, fully healed (I'd say that will probably be, at minimum, in about a year since they were pierced) before putting the addition irritation of a barbell in, since the two holes will aggravate each other by pulling. He still, however, though they were well aligned, and said there wouldn't be a major problem, only the time it would take to be over this particular episode would be lengthened. He made a very eloquent po int, b ut I'm slightly mule-headed, and stuck with my original feeling that I would rather complete out the healing with the barbell in. Although it will, undoubtedly, prolong the healing time, at least I can be assured that it will heal properly in-line. A little more irritation now, but at least I'll get to avoid another bout of irritation when i finally do put the barbell in and my body has to shift again slightly to accommodate it. So I removed the CBR's, cleaned my hands (scrub for as long as "happy birthday" and don't forget to interdigitate), lubed the barbell end (sadly, externally threaded, but at least it's 316LVM SS) with some Polysporin, and slid it in, easily. It certainly didn't feel like there was any problem with the alignment of the upper hole, which I threaded the barbell through second. I screwed on the ball nice and tight. It felt shockingly excellent and comfortable. Later that night, I found that it was feeling a little warm, so I opted to give it a nice salt soak, which was very soothing. Since then I've had no problems with it. I clean it once a day in the shower, and despite the fact that it's under a hat, helmet or sometimes goggle band (I snowboard every weekend, both days, and one evening a week) it's doing very well. I keep it covered with my hood whenever I walk outside, and I'm still careful how I sleep, making sure never to really apply direct pressure. However, I'm glad that I changed to a barbell, since its more compact nature means that it is snagged and bumped less over the course of the day, and there can be no twisting of it, something that was uncomfortable and irritating before, that I think may have been the cause of the inflammation of the lower hole. One thing I can say for sure though is it's much harder to clean with the barbell, I have a small amount of play in it, and still it's difficult to get underneath the bar at the inner-helix side of the holes. I could not imagine being pierced with a barbell originall y and being able to fully clean away the crusties in the first few weeks.
spring
The barbell has been in for almost three months, and it's been seven months since the piercing. I still would have a long way to go before i can consider true and rightly healed, and a few years past that to consider it a successful piercing overall. There's no pain from it, except when it's subjected to a serious knock or bump, and then i have a sudden flare. It's been so long like that that i feels as though I've forgotten how it feels to simply be bumped in the ear; maybe it always hurt like that. If I'm careful, and position myself and the pillow just right, I can sleep on that side, but most nights i just preferentially sleep on the other side, to avoid the hassle of awaking to a grumpy ear. I commonly compare this piercing to a puppy: it needs constant supervision, vigilance and care. You always need to be there to care for it, clean up after it. You're going to need to change a few of your habits to suit its addition into your life, and it's going to do things t hat we re not in your original plan- it has a mind of its own. And it's going to take a long time in the "puppy" stage before it settles down to a well-trained, mature, obedient dog.
At the eight months mark I made a remarkable discovery, I fell asleep curled up against my boyfriend's back, but we were out of town, and sleeping on the "wrong" sides of the bed, which meant that I slept for the entire night with the industrial ear down. When I woke up in the morning, it felt fine. More than fine, it felt nothing; no pain, no delicate sensation that it was there. The next night I slept on it as well, just to be sure. Again, it no pain, no anything when i awoke. I've been treating it like the rest of my piercing since then; cleaning with normal body wash along with the rest of me in the shower, then rinse well, and ignore. It's been happy, healthy, and fooling me into thinking it's fully healed (until I give it a good hard knock, then it stings). Overall though, I think this puppy is almost all grown up.
the end..
I know that the popularity of this piercing is increasing exponentially- just look at the sheer volume of recent experiences written about it and photo taken. My advice to you, if you are considering it, is to take this experience to heart. Everything that I've read and trusted told me before I undertook this project told me that it's a long, difficult and problem-prone healing. I had a long, difficult, problem prone healing. So you, in all likelihood will also have a long, difficult, problem-prone healing as well. It's livable, and definitely worth it, but something to consider before you go ahead with it; for this piercing in particular, the experience doesn't end when you walk out of the studio.