Being a dedicated follower of freshly pierced holes and shiny metal and not having had anything done for a while, I felt the need for another piercing, this time something a little more 'normal' or 'run of the mill' and opted for a normal helix or ear cartilage, whatever its called these days. I had my right ear done when I was about 15 in some hairdressers with a gun – I didn't know any different then but I have to say, that experience was a far more pleasant one......
At A Glance Author Lauren Contact Lauren@bme.anon IAM laurenplus4 When Six months ago Artist Ken Studio Screaming Skull Location Gravesend, Kent I went to what was at the time, my usual piercing studio; Screaming Skull in Gravesend and went to see Ken, the piercer there. I have never had any problems with him, he has always been pleasant, chatty and professional. I told him that I wanted my left ear pierced, about halfway up and with the smallest ring that he felt he could pierce it with as I'm not one of these people that likes oversized jewellery – I am a woman and therefore like all things pretty and dainty!
He marked the spot on my ear having cleaned it, had the ring in the bag all clean and ready and all that was left to do was for me to get comfortable in the chair. He got into position and I felt the needle touch my ear then I DEFINITELY felt the needle go through my ear.
I'm no wuss and I have never made a fuss whilst being pierced before (and I have plenty) but this HURT! So much so that I nearly said allowed 'OW-OW-OW-OW'. Anyway, he fiddled with the bag containing the ring and got ready to put it through, this was also equally painful and nearly brought tears to my eyes!!
When I had calmed down and recovered from this pain I had a look at my bright red, burning hot lughole. It looked quite good and so was happy to suffer on; and suffer I did!
I had the usual pain and not being able to sleep on that side. I cleaned it, nursed it, was VERY careful with it and 5 months later I was still unable to sleep on that side. It was still weeping and every now and then bleeding but when I asked another piercer to take it out for me, he said it was still too early to change as it looked angry, I therefore had to put up with it.
Now, I hadn't been sleeping for a fair few weeks but thought it was stress so I went to the doctor who gave me Tamazepam to try and help me sleep. Finally enough was enough and I went to take the ring out. The ball came out fine, the ring on the other hand – was well and truly stuck. My ear was fatter than the gap in the jewellery – HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN!! I tried and tried, it bled and was excrutiating. I went downstairs and asked my husband (an ex-builder) if he had any small but tough wire cutters to get this ba*&%^d ring out of my ear. I sat there, held my breath and half waited to see my ear fall into my lap but thankfully, there was only some metal.
I went back upstairs, removed the rest of the jewellery and was horrified to find that my ear was at least 3 times thicker than my other ear. My cartilage is very thick anyway, probably about ¾ cm but it was now huge and very stressed out!
I examined my ear and discovered that I now have a ridge where the ring used to sit – I can only assume that the ring he put in was far to small to accommodate my large ear cartilage and the swelling that was inevitable after the piercing. Therefore, when my ear was swollen, the ring was constricting the swelling and was therefore unable to heal – good job I had the insight to take it out when I did otherwise who knows what nasties would have gone on.
I had to put a normal earring in place of the ring because nothing else was big enough to go all the way through the hole, and this stayed there for about a week until the swelling went down. I now have a small barbell in there and it would appear to be coming long nicely. I could easily have taken it out and left it out (the thought crossed my mind many times) but I hate the thought of spending all that money on something that you really wanted in the first place for it to just be wasted.
Also, I am sleeping all through the night – for the first time in 6 weeks – coincidence that it is now because the problem ring has gone – I think not.
Please people, when you have anything pierced, especially when it's something that believe it or not, affects you in every day life – make sure you go to someone who KNOWS what they are doing and think about what jewellery you have and any implications there might be. This really was a horrendous experience for me and I put off having my rook and/or conch done because of it.