At A Glance
Author	Amanda
Contact	ACG2LH@yahoo.com
When	It just happened
Artist	Craig
Studio	Extreme Graphix
Location	Brockport, New York

To start off, I have always been obsessed with body modifications. I started piercing my ears before I was one year old. I have my ears and cartilage pierced all the way up, my right nostril, my left tragus, and my new right rook. I always go to Extreme Graphix to get all my piercings, the environment is very clean and the people are extremely nice. I brought my cousin Danielle with me and my Grandmother.

I just got my rook pierced today on my right ear (February 21st, 2004) at around 3:00 p.m. I started getting really nervous because I had to wait in line for two nostril piercings and a tongue piercing. Right after me there was a navel and a lip piercing in progress. The line seemed to take forever. So I picked out a small, curved barbell with a pink spike on each end of the barbell. I decided to get a 16 gauge barbell. The piercing was $25, plus another $20 because I bought the jewerly from them. I had a $45 gift certificate from Christmas so it worked out great. Finally, it was my turn!

I went into the back room, and sat in a black, dentist-like chair. He put on gloves, cleaned the area really good and marked the spot with a marker and asked me if I liked the placement. I asked him to move it a little to the right, he dotted it and then he said it is a thicker piece or cartilage. So we compromised and he went between both dots. He put a rubber-band around the clamps, placed it on my rook, and said you are going to breathe in, and then when you breathe out, I am going to push the needle through. Although the clamps are really tight, I think it helps numb the area. The main purpose of the clamps is to make sure the area that is being pierced does not move, which could affect the placement of the piercing. He had the receiving tube on the other end so the needle did not stab my ear in another place. As he was sliding the needle out, he slid the curved barbell in my rook. He said the part that might hurt a little bit was trying to put one of the sp ikes on because there is not much room in someone's rook area to work with and the spike is such a little thing to screw on the barbell. He had one of the spikes on as he slid it in, so it made his job easier. It bled just a little bit, and Craig just kept cleaning it with a Q-tip. It happened so fast, I was so happy that it was over! It was not half as bad as I thought it was going to be. I felt a little pressure, and my ear felt tight and really hott. Craig, (the piercer) talked to me the whole way through it. He was so nice and very helpful. He gave me a piece of paper about after care and said that I could take Motrin or Advil for the pain. He also told me to every so often, make sure that both of the spikes are tight, so the barbell does not slid out. All I need to do is clean it at least twice a day with dial-antibacterial soap. While I was there, Craig also changed my nostril stud for me, and put in my curved barbell that I bought for my tragus. I tipped him and left .

It is now almost four hours after I got it pierced, and it is doing fine. It did bleed a little bit more, and got crusty on the top part of the barbell. It is not very sore at all. It is still really red, but what else can you expect? I plan on going back to Extreme Graphix to get my other piercings: labret, navel, tongue, nipples, eyebrow, and all the other various parts of both of my ears! If you are thinking about getting your rook done, go for it. You will be very happy with the results. Never believe what anybody tells you, Craig told me it could be very painful, so of course I got even more nervous then I already was. But of course he was just warning me in letting me know that it could hurt a lot. When it was over, I was like, "that's it?" It was not as bad as I thought, it was nothing I could not stand. Everybodys pain tolerance is different. If you have any questions, email me anytime! You can ask me about my tragus, nostril, and rook piercings. I promi se I will respond as soon as I can! Happy Piercing!