I've been interested in all kinds of body modification for quite a long time now, but having been stuck in a very traditional school that wouldn't put up with anything of the sort I didn't have any opportunity to indulge in it myself. Going away to university the last autumn felt like a big step towards independence, and allowed me freedom of expression with regards my looks.
At A Glance Author Hex Contact Hex@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Unknown Studio Angels Location St. Andrews, Fife
I'd known there was a piercing and tattoo studio in St. Andrews from before when I first arrived, and during my first few months here it dawned on me that this would be the perfect setting to get something done. I knew that I wanted a piercing, both due to the tactile feel of it, and its removablility if I realised soon after that this sort of stuff wasn't for me (not that I really expected that to happen). The only problem really was what. I quite like the look of eyebrows, but as a glasses wearer I think that one would just look silly on me. Oral piercing don't appeal to me, as I'm sure I'd be continually fiddling on them, and I'm also a bit paranoid about damaging my teeth after so many years stuck in braces. It was a toss up therefore between my nose and my ears, and in the end I decided that my ear would be a lot easier to heal, as I tend to always have a lot of snot, as well as an uncommon number of nosebleeds.
BME was a great research tool, especially really clear things like this. I though through the various piercings long and hard for ones that I'd think would both suit me, and be relatively simple. I didn't want to go for multiple, or big lobes in one go, and I don't like the look of single lobe piercings much, so I decided on cartilage. I felt drawn to both helix and tragus piercings, but I have very small traguses, and I'm not even sure if they're big enough to be pierced. This tipped the balance, and so I decided I wanted a my helix pierced. Choice of side was easy enough - my left, because I sleep a lot more on my right side, and so the healing should be easier.
Well, having mentioned this to a few people, I found out that both my girlfriend and another friend wanted some work done at the same time too, and we set a date to meet up and go the the studio. The first time we tried to go it was shut, despite being within normal opening hours, but because it's only a matter of several minutes walk to get there we weren't too disheartened, and returned the next day.
That was actually the first time I'd been into the shop, but I'd heard plenty of fairly good things about it from others, and was quite pleasantly surprised at the atmosphere and lightness of the place. There were quite a few people milling around, both waiting for piercings and looking at the racks of flash. We all went up to the receptionist to talk about what we wanted done. My friend wanted a tattoo, and so made an appointment for a couple of days later, and my girlfriend wanted larger rings in her lobes that they didn't have autoclaved just then, so just for this trip I was actually the only one of us three to get what I wanted.
I had to wait around for nearly half an hour while a succession of vacant looking girls went into the piercing room and reappeared with tiny nostril studs or bellybutton piercings. Eventually it was my turn, and while I'd been a bit anxious earlier the atmosphere and classic rock soundtrack played over the sound system made me feel totally calm. I filled in the consent form, and went into the piercing room. It looked very clean and surgical, and the piercer had me sit on an examination table while she prepared her equipment. She offered me a choice of two different CBRs, and I chose the thicker of the two.
After cleaning my ear the piercer asked where I wanted the piercing, and because I'm really picky I had to go up to the mirror and show her exactly where I meant. The piercing location is in the bend of the helix, just under half and inch from the top of the left ear. She put a dot on the spot with a marker, and to my surprise it was in exactly the right place the first time. She warned me that I had a vein in the area, and that I could expect lots of bleeding, but I was adamant about the placing, not really being scared of a bit of blood.
I sat back down on the table, and my surprise was much greater when she told me to put a cotton ball in my ear and pulled out a big spray of anaesthetic. I enquired about the necessity of the anaesthetic, but this being my first piercing I didn't really have to conviction to ask specifically for it not to be used. She sprayed the anaesthetic on, and my ear went very cold, although I wasn't actually aware of any numbness.
Having removed the cannula needle from it's packet the piercer came over and started fiddling with my ear. After nothing greater than a slight pushing sensation she asked me if I wanted to look at it. I hopped off the table again, and went over to the mirror to see a big cannula sticking out of my ear. This looked pretty funky (but not as good as the curved taper my girlfriend briefly wore later), and was in the right place, so having nodded my agreement I sat down for the final time so the ring could be inserted. Thanks again I presume to the anaesthetic this was a painless process, and so after grabbing a tissue for any blood I wandered back to the front of the store.
After paying a measly £10, and having been given the standard aftercare spiel as well as a fairly comprehensive sheet I stepped out into the wintry street. My ear was still fairly numb, so I didn't feel the cold like I would during the first part of the healing process, but my friends pointed out that my piercing was suddenly bleeding quite profusely. Digging in my pockets for the tissue I'd earlier grabbed a drop of blood fell from my ear to splat on the ground. It was a bit weird walking home with a rapidly more bloody tissue clutched to my head, especially when I had to pop into the bank to hand in a mandate form.
Beforehand I'd been a lot more scared of aftercare than I had of the piercing itself, and true to my expectations it was a lot more uncomfortable. For the first couple of days there was some bleeding, and an almost constant throbbing feeling. My ear went bright red, and sensitive to the slightest touch on the piercing, and the lymph node under the ear swelled up and went very tender. However, things weren't exactly painful except when I actually hit the piercing on something, and less than a week after it happened it seemed that the healing process was well on its way. This might have been even quicker were it not for accidentally rotating some crustiness through the hole on about day 4 that I hadn't seen or managed to clean off.
I was using the aftercare regime suggested by my piercer, which consisted of salt soaks with cotton bud cleaning and rotation for the first few days, with gentle antiseptic (Savlon wound wash) following that, but I felt that the Savlon wasn't really helping that much, and was just contributing to the dry skin around the hole, so I've switched back to salt soaks. Less than two weeks later there doesn't seem to be any discharge at all, although things are still sore. I can't wear hats (which is a bit of a punishment in the cold weather), or sleep on my left side, but overall I'd say things are going well, although I can still sort of 'feel' the piercing twinge very slightly from time to time.
I'm really glad than I got this piercing done, and although I'm sure it still has quite a long way to being fully healed the troublesome period was less than a week, and the fussiness required is more than made up for by the look of the thing. Overall it's been pretty low maintenance, and as long as healing continues on the path it seems to have begun I'll be a very happy man.