This is the story of my 4g inner conch experience.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon IAM Aeloea Stardreamer When It just happened Artist Kaylonsims Studio 3rd Dimension Location Appleton, WI I have just recently gotten into body piercing, my first piercing being a stud in my nose a short 7 months ago. At age 25, my piercings are definitely a personal decision rather than a fashion statement (aka "it looks cool").
Picking and choosing what piercings I want is a task. I have to be able to get what I want done, but still stay within a certain boundary. I do work in a professional office environment.
After realizing the joys, pain, and liberating feelings of stretching my ears, I knew I would want another ear piercing to complement them. The only one that would be perfect for me is an inner conch. It would certainly make my ears look a little less bare! More importantly is the cultural reasonings. Having been a long time fan of foreign and indigenous cultures, I draw most of my mods from other cultures. It gives my piercings so much more personal and spiritual meaning. Having already experienced the heightened awareness that lobe stretching has done for me, I wanted to add to that. The planned inner conch fit the bill. (Inner conch piercings are a spiritual piercing for the sadhus of the buddhist religion.)
So started my 3 month long "decision period". I thought about how much I really wanted this piercing. I thought about how much this piercing could mean to me. I weighed the pros and cons. I was even talked out of it once. (He said it would be the most painful piercing I could get and I would have a permanent open hole... pssha! Not true at all!) Not wanting this done lasted about 2 weeks, as I realized I was not wanting it for another person's reasons, not my own.
I decided to get the process underway when I went into my piercer to order some 0g amber plugs. I thought, "Well, as long as I am ordering these plugs, I might as well order the plugs I want for my conch." I knew I wanted to use pyrex glass. Picking out which ones I wanted and what gauge was the problem. So many choices! I wanted large gauge, but not too big, and in a color that wasn't too gaudy. So I settled on 4g emerald green translucent plugs that were flared on one side, so I didn't have to have an o-ring on the side that people would see. (I'm not a big fan of the o-ring look, on me that is.) The ordering of the jewelry was one of those "I have the jewelry so now I have to get the piercing" moments. :)
So, the jewelry came in. It was autoclaved for me and I made an appointment to have the piercing done. I choose an early saturday afternoon as I don't work on the weekends and it would give me some time to recover. Recovery time is so important!
The big day rolled around. With my hands a shaking and my stomach rolling, I went to get my ears dermal punched to accommodate a 4g plug. I was still quite scared to get this procedure done. I have seen pictures in the photo gallery of people bleeding all over and frankly, the thought of removing a chunk of my flesh was not very appealing. I was scared that my cartilage would make a loud crunching noise. If it did, I would surely loose my lunch!
Damien, Josh and Burt (my piercer) were really good about my nervousness. They are a super nice and very funny. Humor always helps to calm down the nerves. It seems that everyone in the shop wanted to watch this. The digital camera was brought out to record this momentous event for posterity. *snickers* I, of course, love the attention and that made me more excited than nervous. The tray was set up with the needed supplies and I proceeded to try to center myself. It's kind of hard to meditate with four people in a small room with you, but I did my best. I felt as ready as I would be. So now everything starts with cleaning my ears and the marking of the placement. (Burt uses a toothpick and some dye.) When he marked my left ear, I could feel the toothpick poke the "sweet spot" where I wanted it placed. (The "sweet spot" I refer to is an area in my ear that is highly sensitive to pressure. It sends strange, but good, feelings coursing through my body.) He was marking right where I wanted it to be. I could feel him start to mark a bit more towards my inner ear, away from where I wanted it to be. I asked if he could keep it more towards the outside and that was ok as there was enough room to do that. He asked if I liked the placement. I couldn't see. I had my glasses off. :) So they got me a hand mirror. I still couldn't see anything. :) Hehehe! I trust Burt very much with his placement and so I was happy with where it was.
Now the pain would start.
We started with the right ear. I close my eyes to help me concentrate. He lined the punch up on my ear and I started sweating. Pesky adrenaline! A deep breath in and out. Repeat. A big deep breath in and let it out slowly... punch goes in. Oh man! It felt like it took forever to get it through! The cartilage crunched as the punch worked its way through my ear. Then, it was through. (There was a rubber cork behind my ear to support/accept the punch.) The burning pain stopped. I breathed normally and opened my eyes. I said "That wasn't so bad! Well, compared to the scar tissue you ripped out of my nipple on Monday, it didn't hurt at all!" (nipple + scar tissue = another story for another day) I felt blood running down my neck and I said to Damien, who was manning the camera, "Get a blood picture!" Hehehe! If it bleeds, you need a picture of that! It didn't really bleed much. That one big trickle down my neck was it. I really expected more. So then the punch was taken out and a 4g taper was inserted. The punch was 5mm, not quite 4g, so we needed to make sure everything would fit properly. I did the deep breathing again for the taper, I winced expecting excruciating pain. Nothing. I didn't even feel it go through. He lined up the jewelry and pushed that through. The worst part of that is getting the o-ring on because the plug has to be held and the o-ring never likes to go on. :) Lots of movement and that hurts.
We took a little break, maybe like 3-5 minutes, to get ready for the next side. I realized that the cartilage did not sound as bad as I thought it would. It wasn't a loud cracking type sound. It was more like walking through fall leaves type of crunching. Not gross at all. Time for the next ear.
The next ear procedure went just the same. This one hurt more. But then, that seems to be true of all second piercings done in one sitting, at least for me. I had a hard time holding my head still on this one. You kind of tend to jerk away from pain. :) When the taper was through someone said "That one didn't bleed at all." Then, Damien pointed out that the blood was running down the taper. Burt said it was like I was tapped, like what you do to trees for their sap. We all laughed over that one. It seems that he nicked me a little with the punch on this one when I jerked my head, that some extra skin was removed. I wasn't to concerned about it. I figure, it'll grow back. :) I'm very glad that he is honest about what happened during the procedure.
So all was done and I was cleaned up. I had a glass of water while I sat and made sure that I wouldn't pass out when I stood up. Eh, I was fine and I went out into the lobby to sit down out there. I wanted to recover for a while before I drove myself home. I get so loopy from the adrenaline that I would be risking mine and others safety by driving. To pass the time, I glanced through a well worn copy of the ModCon book and another book on tribal piercings and body art. After about a half an hour I felt good to go. I had already paid and so I was on my way. When I got home I took some Advil to dull the pain. As with all my adrenaline rushes, I totally zonked out about an hour later. I took a 6 hour "nap". I don't mind sleeping so long, because I feel it helps with recovery and the healing process.
So that is my very long 4g inner conch dermal punch story. Please visit my IAM page to see all the pictures. Your experience may, and probably will, vary. Remember to take good care of your body and respect your piercings. And most importantly, TIP YOUR PIERCER! They have to eat too you know. ;)