And the story continues...
At A Glance Author Becca Contact Becca@bme.anon IAM Mocha When It just happened Artist Holly Glover Studio Body Piercing Studio By Holly Location Peterborough, Ontario Canada I recently wrote my experience of a Helix to Rook Industrial as well as another about my Inner Conch to Outer Cartilage Orbital.
Well the saga continues. I figured that I would have waited a while before jumping into another piercing but I just couldn't. Within 12 days I had 4 new holes in my left ear (the industrial and the orbital. What triggered the new piercing right away was when a friend of mine then remarked that my right ear looked empty. It only had 2 lobes, a 14ga tragus and a 14ga snug. While my left ear now has 4 lobes, 1 cartilage, 14ga orbital and a 14ga industrial.
Now I had a plan for my ears and I new that I wanted the final product as soon as I could. So I allowed my industrial and my orbital a good month to calm down. I wanted to add to my right tragus piercing which is pierced the conventional way. I thought about how neat it would look if I ran a vertical piercing through the same tragus to make it kind of look like a cross. I had discussed it with Holly, my piercer to see if it could be done back when I had my orbital pierced. She said she could fit it if she used a curved barbell.
So my 24th birthday came up and my mom decided she would like to pay for me to get my vertical tragus (she's pretty cool, she paid for my 14ga tongue on my 17th birthday!). So the day before my birthday I went down with my boyfriend to the Piercing Studio. When I got there there was no one there - excellent! Because I new we would have to spend quite some time for this particular piercing. So I told Holly that I was back for the vertical tragus. I had always had a CBR in my tragus so first we had to find a very short curved barbell to put in so that I would have my cross effect. She then had to get out about 6 more pieces of jewelry straight and curved to see which would be the best to use. So she cleaned my ear and all of that fun stuff and started holding different pieces of jewelry up to my tragus to find the best fit for the original hole and for the new one. Finally after about 30 minutes, 10 pieces of jewelry and a lot of trying different ball sizes she had th e 2 we needed and we were set to go. So she removed my CBR and cleaned my ear again. Holly knows me really well and so there are no breathing excercises or warning me first as she is well aware that the pain has never and I mean never affected me and to just pierce whenever she is ready. So I feel the first push of the needle and then a pause as she re-aligned the needle (necessary for this particular piercing) and pushes again and it's through. Just as I suspected there was no pain as with most of my piercing with the exception of my rook. I never even felt her slip the barbell through ( I normally feel it but barely). So next she puts the new curved barbell into my already healed tragus and we're done. Because of all of the time and the jewelry she ended up changing her gloves in excess of 8 times (it's usually about 5-6). I get up and am thrilled with the result. I had to use 2 mirrors to see the cross design but when I did see it I couldn't stop the HUGE smile from appearing on my face.
She explained that the barbell is extra long to accomodate swelling but that she will change it to a shorter one in a couple of weeks when the swelling goes down. I paid and gave her the usual tip and then we inquired about my boyfriend getting dermal punched tragi. To my surprise she actually did them. So the next day we were back in for the dermal which looks great on him at 6ga.
That same day I told her that the next thing I want is a 10ga conch-conch vertical industrial and inquired about having it punched instead of pierced. She said it would be better for healing and the pain shouldn't bother me as none of my piercings have. Turns out she had 2 10ga punches there already and had a 10ga sss barbell. I would have sat down and done it right then and there but the barbell wouldn't have been long enough to accomodate swelling, but it long enough as the final piece of jewelry it heals. So she wrote down an order for a 10ga barbell (not sure of the length) and as soon as it's in she's going to call me and I will be getting my industrial dermal punched. I can't wait.
It's been 4 days and as usual pretty uneventful. It doesn't hurt not even when I clean it and as for sleeping I just put my ear between to pillows as I am unable to sleep on either ear. Not because they're so but because you shouldn't sleep on a piercing until it is at least 50-75% healed as it can still tear and cause problems. I experienced that very thing with my snug. It kept getting irritated evertime I slept even though it didn't hurt and ended up with a blood bubble that kept coming and going until I stopped sleeping on it. The snug ended up taking 1 full year to heal.
By the way, I should mention to everyone that while I do have a very high pain tolerance and don't bleed very often and state that I have no pain afterward I should tell you that I have a lot of vertebral deformities in my back and am on a regular dose of morphine so I guess that's why I don't feel the hot throbbing or anything that usually comes with being punctured. I wish I did because the novelty of the new piercing wouldn't wear off so quick. I've had 5 new holes within a month and half and I can't feel any of them unless I touch them.
As for aftercare, I clean it with antibacterial cleanser which is soap free, oil free, and perfume free called Trisan (contains triclosan) which works very well. Actually better than Spectro Gel but hard to find. I do that twice a day as well as a sea salt soak right after cleaning it. I also keep a saline solution handy if I don't have time for the salt soak. I just squirt it all around the holes and turn the jewelry. So far for all of my recent piercings it has been fairly easy to turn jewelry the first day. Hopefully the healing process will continue to be easy and uneventful. Holly did warn me that getting too many piercings in a small amount of time can cause your body to get confused and just quit but hopefully that won't happen. I am at home all the time because of my back problem so all I ever do is get rest which is why I think that everything will be fine. But I have promised her that the industrial will be the last one....for a little while anyway.
Holly is an excellent piercer who is always up to the challenge when I come to her with an idea for things that no one has. I don't think she had ever done a vertical tragus before (not sure) and I'm glad. Most people would see that as a bad sign but it means to me that no one in my small town will have one and that is what I want. Also I have a lot, and I mean a lot of trust in Holly. She has been able to do every piercing that I have come up with exactly how I picture them in my head.
I love my tragus + vertical tragus cross so much that I have already planned to do it in my left ear as well. But I hope I don't do that for at least 2 months but I can't seem to control my urges. When you have an ear project in mind you just want to get it done like RIGHT NOW!
If you're ever in the Peterborough Area (probably not) then go see Holly - you couldn't ask for more from a piercer. For those of you Canadians who would like to know why I have so much trust in her with piercings that she has never performed before is that she is very good at what she does and it helps when you have a willing guinea pig like me to gain some experience, it also helps her portfolio out which I am perfectly glad to do. She was taught by Blair in Toronto who is currently at Passage and has an excellent rep and does excellent work (those who have heard of him know what I'm talking about. She still uses him as her Guru if she needs some advice or anything like that.
If you have any questions or comments I would be glad to hear from you. For this or any other piercing I have.
Happy Piercing!!!!