About 8 months ago(not quite a year but you get the idea...) i was looking at bmezine.com and found a piercing that look really cool. I decided that I was going to get my conch pierced. The person sitting beside me looked at me like I was crazy.
At A Glance Author True Individual Contact brittani_turner@hotmail.com When A year ago Artist Andrea St.Thomas Studio Pure Sins Location Victoria B.C I got payed about 2 weeks later so me and a friend, after picking up my paycheck, stopped by my body piercer's shop so I could ask her some questions. Although she could not tell me from her own experience that pain of this piercing, I decided to go ahead and do it anyways.
This was not my first time going to Andrea for a piercing. She has also done my industrial(anti-helix and helix separately), my blazes, my second tongue ring and my ear stretching so I trusted her to do a good job as always.
She gave me then pen so I could show her where I wanted it. When I sat down I got a little nervous, but only for a minute. As she was going through the breathing with me I felt her put the needle up the my ear and before I knew it it was through. She then put the ring through, put on the bead and tightened the ring and I was good to go.
She then educated me on the cleaning procedure and told me a little about the different types of infections, what i should look for if I got one, different bacteria and what it does and informed me that if I had any problems to come back and see her.
A pervious body piercer who I had gone to see for my first tongue ring and my belly button ring, failed to inform me of most of this and she was also a terrible piercer whos had law suites filed against her(this I found out after getting my tongue and belly button done) and has had many complaints. Before you go anywhere to get pierced, make sure you check the cleanliness of the studio, cleanliness of the piercer(obviously), and the quality of the jewelry(very important!!) You can tell this by whether the jewelry is internally or externally threaded(internally is better quality) Ask questions if you cant tell the quality of the work thats about to be done. If You see a problem, or something doesn't look right, it's probably be best to be safe and go somewhere else!
I experienced no bleeding during this and surprisingly almost no pain. I was impressed with how Andrea went through all the cleaning and infections stuff with me, i thought that to be very very professional.
During my healing, I ran into some "minor complications"...very bad! I had a habit of sleeping on my right side, and attempting to scratch it when it got itchy...very bad. Hands=Dirty and Dirty=Infection!!! Pay close attention to your piercing's after-care, if you don't you could end up with a scar, very painful healing or having to take your piercing out and that's just a waste of money!! My healing was terrible. I developed two large bumps on both sides of the piercing that looked like blood bubbles but were just layers of skin. This took approx. 4-5 months to go away and then came back again(You'd think I would have learned the first time). But now, just a couple months later its totally healed and pain free!
I feel as thought I've invested money towards something interesting that I enjoy. It catches people's eyes and I'm the only one in my school that has it!
When I decided to get my conch pierced, people thought I was doing it to show off or to show people how much pain I could handle. No way. I got this(and everything else) done because it interested me and body piercing is something that I enjoy having done. I have 25 piercings and my conch, although its quite a bit older then a lot of the rest, is still to this day one of my favorite piercings.
I would recommend Andrea St.Thomas of Pure Sins Body Piercing(Now in Victoria B.C) to first timers or anyone who'll be in the area. Andrea proved herself to me by the care she took before, during, and after the procedure. She changed her gloves frequently(at least 5-6 times), cleaned the whole room before and immediately after and went over things with me that I had never even thought of before. She is only one of two people I would ever trust with my piercings!
I recommend this piercing to people who want a piercing but can't decide just what they want. Although the healing does take a while, whether healing time gets set back by infection or not, I think in the end it was all worth it. Some people look at me funny because its strange or different but it doesn't really bother me what people say. I love all 25 of my piercings even though some people don't. Its my body and I feel as though I have the right to what I please with it and not be looked down upon because of my choices. Besides, being normal can get pretty boring!
Happy Piercing!