This all started like 1 year and 6 months ago I had my inner conches pierced at 14ga. Progressively over the next year I went to 4ga, but there was a lot of scar tissue. Alicia at Twisted Sol, advised me to take them out and work on the scar tissue. I worked on the scar tissue and it would not go away, so after like four months of working on them I talked to Alicia about punching them. She then told me that we had to have the "talk", which was her telling me about her experience. She basically told me it was like a gunshot to the head, and going into mild shock was a possibility, it was that intense. Initially I was thinking about punching at 2ga or 0ga, but then Alicia said 00ga or 7/16 in. I was blown away by this, the thought of going that big scared me, but I thought about it and decided on 7/16 in.
At A Glance Author Alex Contact Alex@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Alicia w/ the help of James Studio Twisted Sol Location Denver, CO I made an appointment with her and I was way excited, plus it was spring break and I had a week to recover. So eventually the day came, I decided to bring my ex-girlfriend and one of my best friends with me. When we got there, Kevin at the counter said the jewelry was in the autoclave and it would be about a half hour. So we went and got some food, ate, and came back. When I got back my heart was going a mile a minute. I was nervous, excited, and scared all at the same time. Before we went down to the piercing room she said they did not have 7/16 in., so I could do 00ga or ½ in., I was like wow, a half inch that is so huge. I thought to myself "what have I got to lose?", and decided on a half inch. We went down to the piercing room and I sat on the table, then she asked if I minded if people watched, I said no, so she brought down two other people. While on the table she got all the tools ready, and holy cow was the taper intimidating. It was like 6 inches long and so big on the end. I am sitting on the table and she put the big end of the taper in ink to mark my ear. I am super nervous at this point, my heart is thumping out of my chest. Once my ears are all marked up, I lie down, getting even more nervous. She takes the punch out which is 00ga and then she will stretch up to ½ in. I am taking super huge breathes at this point, just trying to stay calm, she tells me to keep doing that. I feel the punch on my ears and she tells me to breathe in and out, the two deep breathes and she will do it. One. Two. Boom. Followed by an intense burning sensation, luckily the taper had Xylocaine jelly on it. During the entire thing I could hear crunching, it was so intense. She tells me that she is done, and I felt so relieved. I was done at this point, I had no energy left, and this is only after one. I wanted a break but she said we should just go do the other one before my adrenaline leaves. So I start breathing heavy again, in and out. One. Two. Boom. This one hurt even more than the other. I was in so much pain it was unbelievable. I was shaking and writhing in pain, and then Alicia leaned on me and said it was done. Both ears were burning, and hurt pretty bad, so Alicia and James put saline on them to soothe them. Then they each took an ear and began massaging it to help get the air out of it, that felt good, but I was done, I was so out of it. I just laid there for like five to ten minutes, just recovering, then James got me a cup of water and I sat up still out of it. I looked at the tools and there was very little blood, I was surprised. There were the chunks of ear though, and I could see the cartilage, it was kind of gross. We went back upstairs, and stayed there for about a ½ hour.
When we left the Xlyocaine was wearing off, and they really began to hurt. So I got some Tylenol p.m. to help me sleep, that night was the worst night ever of sleep, I got like two hours of sleep. I also took like three baths that night to help me relax and ease the pain, but I could not get comfortable for the life of me. The next night was not much better, but I got more sleep, and from then on I have gotten full nights sleep. If you are thinking about doing this I recommend doing it on a break, don't do it over the weekend. I would say 4-6 days of time just to get back to your normal self and to accommodate swelling.