This is the story of my 4 gauge dermal punched inner conch.
At A Glance Author virgil When A week ago Artist "Jo-D Jugz" Studio Anatomic Adornments Location Vancouver, BC
I had gotten my inner conch pierced at 10ga 6 months earlier and had been wearing a cbr in it the whole time. I loved how it looked but found it to be too bothersome for a piercing I've already had for half a year. It was still lymphing tons and the sight of crusties caked on the ring wasn't exactly attractive. I didn't just want to get rid of this piercing altogether.
I'm a "shop fly" at Anatomic Adornments (I drop by regularly) and one day I asked Jody about what she thought of dermal punches. I asked whether it would be a good idea to get rid of the piercing and re do it with a punch. She explained to me that punches would heal far, far better than piercings done on cartilage.
I trusted her opinion and decided that as soon as I had the money I'd go for it.
Once my birthday came around, I was blessed with monetary gifts from my lovely family. I ran over to Anatomic and put in orders for some lobe jewelry and told Jody I wanted to go through with the punch. There, I had my 10ga ring removed.
A week later I had arranged for my punch to happen on a Saturday so my good friend Marylou could watch me bleed and grimace.
I showed up at Anatomic around 2pm and Jody was all ready for me. She knew I basically understood the procedure but explained to me once again that she'd be taking her time to position it, that she'd punch on my third exhale and to... "EAT YOUR MEAT!"
I gave her a funny look. I had read other experiences on here before about people eating the bit of flesh that they had punched out but gee, I have also seen pictures and the idea of doing so didn't appeal to me... UNTIL she told me that a guy I knew had chickened out on doing the same thing. That same guy had chugged a can of "Birds Nest White Fungus Juice" for two bucks the previous week. I just told Jody that I'd think about it.
I hopped onto the piercing table in the piercing room. I took notice of the napkin that was already taped down to the table, waiting for me to bleed like the dickens.
I was very nervous about the whole procedure. The idea of getting a circular bit of flesh removed from my body was off-putting.
Jody took her time to get ready, washing her hands and being oh so sanitary. Marylou was in the room telling me how crazy I was for going through with this and talking about how she wasn't sure she could even watch. I appointed her the position of being my photographer so I told her she had to stay.
Jody cleaned my ear and proceed to mark it in the exact same place where I had it pierced and then checked for veins using a mini flashing light. The hole had closed up completely over just one week. You could barely tell I was once pierced there. There was nothing but a faint pink dot left.
I checked the placement in the mirror and gave Jody my approval. I then lay down on the table, waited for Jody to position the punch and started breathing, trying to stay as calm as a hindu cow.
On three, I felt the punch go through. It felt like it went from outside to inside (but it was actually the other way around). It hurt just the same as getting it pierced although the feeling was quite different. Not bad different, just different different.
I thought I was probably bleeding quite a bit but with how hot my ear was feeling at the time, I couldn't tell. Jody tapered a single flared tunnel in my ear. Jewelry insertion only hurt a tiny bit.
After Jody cleaned my ear up I sat up and looked at the napkin taped to the table. There was a little drop of blood on the napkin.
Jody had to fish for the meat out of the punch. I was sitting there really happy I went through with the whole thing and also really happy it wasn't mind-blowing painful as expected.
Once Jody got the bit of ear out of the punch and onto the tray she commented on how there was a small hole in it from my piercing. I took a look at my mini ear-donut and put my hand out. Jody dropped it in my hand and I just put it in my mouth and swallowed.
Anyone who's been to the dentist and had their mouth bleed knows it's not a big deal to swallow your own blood so why would it be different for a small chunk of cartilage?
Two Weeks later:
It doesn't lymph a whole lot. The tunnel slides around when I'm cleaning it. It doesn't hurt to touch it. Basically, it feels a whole lot better now than having had a piercing in it for 6 months.
I totally recommend choosing dermal punches over piercing needles when it comes to cartilages.
Fini.