I have quite a few piercings in both my ears. My lobes are done twice in each ear, a couple of helix piercings, my daith, tragus, vertical tragus, and outer conch. The one part of my ear that I never ever thought about getting was my inner conch. This was mostly because it just seemed so painful to me. It was way too close to my ear canal for comfort. The thought of sticking a needle through that part of my ear gave me the chills. But somewhere along the way, I fell in love with this piercing. I didn't really like the look of a fat CBR hanging out but I did really like the look of a barbell. I liked the way the ball just seemed to sit inside the ear. So I decided that I would fight any thought of the pain and would get my conch pierced.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Ryan Studio Anubis Warpis Location San Francisco, CA The place that I got pierced at is called Anubis Warpus which is located on the ever so famous Haight Street in San Francisco. Anubis is quite a large shop. The front of the shop has tons of magazines. Located in the center is the counter containing all the jewelry displays. The actual piercing place is located in the back of the shop next to the tattoo section of the shop.
When I entered Ryan (the piercer) saw me and came out to say hi. I told him I wanted my conch done. I picked out the jewelry. I got a 14g 3/8th barbell with I believe it's 5mm balls. The original balls were quite small so I asked for larger ones. The barbell is also internally threaded so it does cost a little bit more than a regular barbell. But I recommend internally threaded jewelry just so you don't scratch the insides of your piercings when you change jewelry. The 3/8th barbell was to allow room for swelling. So after everything was picked out and paid for, we headed to the back.
I hoped onto his spiffy looking dentist type chair and he adjusted the height so that he could pierce me better. Ryan is quite tall so there was quite a lot of adjusting to do. He cleaned my ear with some jelly looking type of stuff then he did the placement. He marked a spot on my ear with ink on a toothpick and asked me to check the mirror to see if that's where I wanted it. He put it in a place where my eyes couldn't quite reach. I wanted the ball to sit right where's there was a dip in my conch and so he redid the placement. This time it was perfect. He got everything ready and told me to breathe in and out. And BAM! He jammed that needle right into my conch. And yes I admit, it hurt quite a bit but definitely did not hurt as much as I expected it to. The pain did not last long at all. He then inserted the jewelry and yes that was quite uncomfortable but nothing unbearable. He then handed me the mirror to check it out. It was great! The only problem was that the bar was way too long, but it was okay because it was for the swelling. The long barbell did get a little annoying after the initial swelling was over with. It was uncomfortable putting my head down on the pillow because it was sticking out and it just looked funky with this super long bar in my ear. I have gotten it downsized since then. I waited about a month before doing that. It is now 5/16th and absolutely perfect.
It was a little painful to touch the next day but after that it felt fine. I had bruising for a few days which wasn't a pretty sight but it didn't last that long. I cleaned it in the shower everyday with Dial antibacterial soap and swiped it with Bactine on a q-tip after the shower and when I woke up in the morning. Bactine is not recommended but I was told it was okay as long as I swiped with water afterwards. I didn't have any problems with Bactine but I have started using saline solution instead for no reason at all.
It's been exactly three months since I've gotten it and it looks and feels great. I get plenty of comments about how I have a big silver ball floating in my ear. I love it so much that I plan to get my conch on the other ear done as well. I recommend this piercing. It is definitely one of the more painful parts to pierce in your ear but the pain does not last very long. Mind over matter, right?
Happy piercing!