Note: I don't recommend self-piercing, however, I've done a few of my own piercings because I've taken classes, studied other piercer's techniques for years and have the proper equipment for piercings (ie: autoclave, ultrasonic cleaner, clamps, piercing needles, sterile jewelry, etc.). Self-piercing isn't always safe and there are chances you take if you decide to pierce yourself. Anyway...
At A Glance Author courtney Contact courtney@bme.anon When A year ago Artist self done
I've had numerous piercings, and ear piercings before this cartilage piercing, including 3 sets of lobe piercings, all stretched in descending gauges, 4 gauge in the first holes, 6 gauge in the second holes and 8 gauge in the third holes, along with two 16 gauge snug ear piercings on my left ear. (these piercings were not self-done, however, the lobe stretching was self-done). After stretching my lobes, I wanted another piercing, so I asked my parents if I could pierce my labret or monroe, but they weren't too happy with my request for a facial piercing while I live in their house.
After spending a couple of weeks trying to decide on what to get pierced, I thought my upper left ear looked a little empty. I considered piercing my cartilage and putting in a 12 gauge circular barbell to see how it looked and if I liked the piercing before I went ahead and stretched it. I have a couple of friends that say that cartilage piercing and stretching have hurt, and so far, none of my piercings have hurt so I figured I'd give the cartilage piercing a shot.
That same day, I sterilized my needle, clamps, jewelry, you name it, and got ready to pierce. I have a little piercing area set up in an empty room in the basement here at my house, so I went downstairs and cleaned the counter where I set up my tray. After putting on my gloves, I soaked my 12 gauge circular barbell or "horse-shoe" jewelry in the ultrasonic cleaner with "wavicide" and lubed my 12 gauge sterilized needle with bacitracin ointment, then set the needle and ointment on the tray. Then, I took out any other jewelry in my ears that may have been in the way while I pierced and I cleaned my ear three times with iodine and and a cotton ball (using a new cotton ball and new iodine each time of course...) and marked the entry and exit holes with a surgical marker. I had my mom check the marks to make sure they were even, then clamped my ear, lining up the marks in the middle of the foerster clamps. I took a breath, and exhaled as I inserted the needle from back to fro nt. To insert the jewelry, I pushed the needle almost flush with my ear and pulled the circular barbell through with no problems. I put a little bit of bacitracin on the barbell and slid it back and forth through the hole and put on the bead. Amazingly, there was no real pain, just a little bit of pressure and my ear felt a little hot after inserting the jewelry. The piercing is a little tender for awhile, i slept on my left ear and it hurt a little the next morning and for the first week it's kind of hard to hold a phone between your ear and shoulder because of it, but it's worth it.
I decided on piercing from the back of the ear to the front because I was performing this piercing on myself, and when piercing, you can see that as you are inserting the needle, the skin/tissue around the exit point of the needle is white, therefore, you can make any slight adjustments you need in order to line up the piercing right. For aftercare, I like to use collidal silver or provon (which you can get at www.steelnavel.com) I used collidal silver and salt-water soaks once a day.
After about 3 months, the piercing was completely healed, without any infections along the way, and I really liked it, so I decided to stretch my piercing from the 12 gauge i started with to an 8 gauge flesh tunnel. The 12 gauge jewelry was somewhat loose, and I probably could have put in a 10 gauge without any struggle, but just to be safe, I ordered myself a blue 8 gauge stretching taper and worked it into the piercing over about a 10 day period just to take it easy on the piercing. After stretching my piercing, the 8 gauge flesh tunnel/tube went in with no problem.
Soon, I'll be adding two 16 gauge helix and two 16 gauge anti-helix piercings to my right ear and then, for my next ear piercing, I'm considering getting an Industrial on my left ear above this cartilage piercing, (or I may pierce my monroe instead).
If you're considering getting a (large gauge) cartilage piercing, i'd say go for it! It's not painful to get pierced, and the healing isn't too bad. If you have any questions, feel free to instant message me on AOL IM, my screename is punkrockrocks11
good luck *~.~*Courtney*~.~*