I've had several facial piercings, but ended up taking all of them out for various reasons. I've felt naked for the past few months, so I started looking at piercings online (at bmezine) out of curiosity.
At A Glance Author b.l.w. When It just happened Artist Reason Studio Bodyworks Location Milwaukee
I've decided that i'm done with facial piercings (at least for a while) so I started looking at pictures of ear piercings. I currently have a piercing in each lobe stretched to a 0g, and I was looking for something not too common that would also look good with what I had.
I came across two pictures that I liked and thought complimented my lobes: the conch and anti-tragus. I was thinking about getting a conch(hoop) in one ear and anti-tragus(barbell) in the other, but was pretty nervous about the pain factor, seeing that they are both cartilage. I had my upper ear cartilage pierced with a gun when i was in middle school, and I had no problems with that (I took it out because I didn't like the look that much.) That cartilage is pretty thin, though, and the gun was so fast. I was just thinking to myself, "how much force does a person need to jam a needle through thick cartilage!!!" I was thinking that it probably wouldn't be all that quick, and there would probably be a lot of pain involved.
A few days ago I decided that I was going to go to my tattoo/piercing place to get something done. I've gone to the same piercer for my tongue, eyebrow, center lip, labret, and side lip, and he's done a wonderful job on all of them. This studio is also known for being very very clean, so that's why I keep going back.
I still didn't know what I wanted though. I walked in and asked my piercer if they did both of the piercings at their studio, and they said yes. After talking to the piercer and my boyfriend who was with me, I decided on the conch.
I filled out a form, showed my i.d., paid, and then sat down to wait for my piercer to be ready since it was a pretty busy day there. As I waited I kept getting more and more nervous. I had read experiences on this site about popping sounds, ears filling with blood, etc... and was pretty nervous about what my experience would be like.
Once I was called into the room, my piercer asked if I had any questions, which ear I wanted, where I wanted it pierced, etc. I decided on a spot, and said I wanted a hoop (because I think they're cuter.) My piercer said that he was going to use a 12g since it was a cartilage piercing, and it would promote better healing.
He cleaned my ear, had me lay back, and clamped my ear (with a surprisingly soft and comfortable clamp.) I took my boyfriends hand, since i was still so nervous, and breathed in and out for the piercer. My piercer asked me to breathe in again, and as I did, in went the needle. It hurt, but it was over quickly. It was definitly bearable, and I heard NO popping and there was NO massive amount of blood. :)
He put the ring in, which wasn't painful at all, and I was done! I continued to lay back for about half a min., but I felt totally fine and asked if I could get up. I sat up, looked in the mirror, and was very happy. I really had gotten myself too worked up for no reason.
My piercer explained to me how to take care of it. He said to keep my hands off of it unless they are totally washed and clean. He said to wash it about twice a day. He recommended that I buy a more expensive soap from him, because it really does work better, but if i wanted i could also just use liquid Dial as a minimum. He said to use a q-tip to really get it clean, and to make sure I use plenty of water. He also told me that there would be some discharge/crusties during healing. He said to fully moisten them before trying to remove them from the piercing area, because that could be damaging, and the crusties could also break up and go into the piercing hole. He also gave me a caresheet and said to come back or call if I had any questions.
Immediately after, and for the next few hours I felt no pain at all. Right now it's two days later, and I love my new piercing. It definitely hurts now, but one reason for that is the hoop keeps getting knocked around. I think I should've gotten a barbell(for the first few weeks/months), even though I don't really like how it looks. I just think that it wouldn't get in the way as much as a big hoop.
I would recommend a conch piercing for anyone who's considering it. And once this is healed, I think I'm going to go for the anti-tragus. I'm happy I didn't get both of them at once, because I wouldn't be able to sleep on my side at all!