Background:
At A Glance Author Silverheart122602 Contact Silverheart122602@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Kelsey Studio Halo Precision Piercing Location Tucson, AZ Unlike all of the other piercings I have and am planning to get in the future, with the exception of my vch, my helix piercing did not undergo the extensive thinking and researching stage that has preceeded my other body mods. The first time I got my cartilage pierced was about a week after I turned 18. This my first real "adult" decision: to get my cartilage pierced. I was on vacation visiting my grandmother when we went to the mall. I was dying to get my cartilage pierced, but I couldn't work up the nerve to go in and ask. Needless to say, my first attempt at the piercing failed due to lack of courage.
That night, I drove myself half nuts thinking about the piercing that I wanted now more than ever and I made the decision to get it the next time I went to the mall. Fortunately and unfortunately, my grandmother and I went two days later. The butterflies were still there, but I ignored them long enough to tell the girl at the counter what I wanted. I was nervous as this would be my third piercing (I had gotten my first set of lobe piercings at 5 and my set pair at 15). While the "piercer" was setting up, I glanced to my left and saw a girl of about 4 standing with her mother, nervously clutching her hand. Instinct told me she was there to get her ears pierced and I knew if I so much as flinced, that poor girl would start bawling her eyes out and run terrified out of the store. Somehow I managed to remain completely calm with a smile plastered on my face the whole time off in my own little world. Before I knew it, I had a new hole in my head and was off to do some shoppin g. Thankfully my body waited until almost half an hour later before almost blacking out, but having been well aware of my body's dislike for needles, blood, and any combination of the two I recognized the signs and was able to calm myself down by sitting for a few minutes under an air conditioning vent.
The piercing gave me no problems at all until months later, which I attribute to my own stupidity and lack of aftercare instructions. After about two months, I started sleeping on my right side and didn't think anything of it as I felt no sharp jab in the head from the earring. After a few months of constantly sleeping on that side though, I noticed the earring was now at a slant. I tried to straighten the earring, but it began to hurt whenever I touched it. I hated how it looked now and decided after many painful encounters with it to retire my beloved piercing. So I set myself up in the bathroom to get that blasted butterfly backed earring out of my ear or die trying. It hurt so much to touch it and my eyes welled up during the removal, but I was finally able to get the backing off and pull the stud out. My ear felt better instantly! I knew that some day, once the hole was fully healed, I would once again have a cartilage piercing. The hole closed without any problems.< /p>
The actual piercing itself:
Two years later, I started thinking about getting my cartilage piercing redone. I had gotten my belly button done a few months prior at a great place and it was healing nicely. I decided to go back to Halo once I got back to school and do the deed.
School was scheduled to start up again on a Wednesday, but since I was back on campus over the weekend, I went to Halo on Monday. Unlike the last time I was there, this time the place was packed! I waited for about five minutes before I got called up to the counter. Brian, the receptionist and an apprentice piercer, handed me the standard paperwork and aftercare sheets to read and fill out while he checked my id. I filled out the paperwork and started to look at the jewelry cases. I tried to imagine which barbell I wanted when Brian pulled out a tray with CBRs and a large selection of colored balls to choose from. At first I was confused, and disappointed, as I had thought it was going to be a barbell, which is what I wanted. Unsure of what to do, I chose a tiny silver ring with a clear rhinestone ball and sat back down to wait for my turn.
After what felt like decades, Kelsey called me back into the piercing room. My boyfriend had come with me so I handed him all of my stuff and checked my phone probably ten times to make sure it was turned off before pestering him about his phone. Kelsey brought out her tray of sterilized instruments, my CBR, and the infamous needle and went to wash her hands again and do a glove change. Unfortunately for me, the tray was in plain sight, but all I could see was the needle. Try as I may, I could not tear my eyes from that torture device which would rip through my flesh and leave a gorgeous CBR in its wake. Luckily, Kelsey came back quickly and moved the tray as it seemed like my eyes were frozen to that spot.
She marked the spot on my ear and handed me a small mirror to check the placement. I told her it was fine, but thinking back now I don't think I actually saw the dot. I was so focused on what was coming next that I jumped slightly when Kelsey asked if Brian could watch the procedure as he was still training. I said sure and then leaned back. I turned my head to the left and couldn't figure out why I was looking at myself for a few seconds. My brain must have been away on lunch or something as it was actually a full length mirror that was giving me a wonderful view of my right ear. I knew what would happen if I saw the saw the needle moving towards my ear, let alone going through it, so I closed my eyes and started focusing on my breathing.
Kelsey waited until I had visibly relaxed and my breathing was stabilized before she pierced me. At that point, my calm steady rhythm had been disrupted and was now replaced by shallow, erratic breathing and a sharp pain in my ear. At this point Kelsey was explaining to Brian what she had done while my brain kept chanting "Breathe through the pain, breathe through the pain" and I worked on stabilizing my breathing again as I didn't want to pass out. In hindsight, I think the actual sharp pain of the piercing only lasted for a few seconds while the needle went through, but then turned into a duller, throbbing pain when Kelsey was manipulating my ear to show Brian what she had done.
Kelsey went over the aftercare with me again and asked if I was alright (this was probably the second or third time she had asked me actually) before I tipped her and left. When I got home, I couldn't stop looking at my newest body mod. Even though I was skeptical about it at first, I couldn't help but fall in love with my tiny, dainty 16g CBR. It was perfect!
Healing:
It's now the middle of June and I got my beautiful helix at the beginning of January. For the first few months I had no problems with it and couldn't be happier. However, lately, my helix and I have a love hate relationship with each other. My boyfriend and a few of my friends always seem to forget about my poor helix and have hit it on a few occasions. Of course, this pisses it off, but never as much as it was two weeks ago.
Even though it hadn't been bumped recently, it seemed to almost constantly have a dull ache and I began to worry that something was wrong even though it looked fine. So I went in to Halo and had Kelsey take a look at it. I had been wondering if changing the jewelry to a barbell would allow it to heal better and provide stability for the poor piercing, but Kelsey said that a jewelry change was not a wise move since the piercing was still healing. Apparently, somewhere along the way I had gotten a small tear on the back on the piercing that had healed and there was a tiny tear at the front of the piercing so it was as if it was brand new. My poor helix! I was even more worried now and vowed to be even more religious about the aftercare.
That night when I got home I looked at my helix before I did a sea salt soak and it looked fine to me, but I know that Kelsey knows what she's talking about so I soaked my helix for a good ten minutes before giving it a good rinse afterwards. As I was drying it, I looked in the mirror again and was shocked to see that it now had what looked like a tiny pink doughnut around the front hole. This was enough to throw me into a panic, but being 11 PM, it was too late to do anything that night. I barely slept that night as I poked around the internet trying my best to find out what that mysteriously ring around the hole was.
After posting on a body modification board I had recently found, I found out it was the infamous bump and breathed a semi-sigh of relief to find out that it was fairly common and was most likely caused my trauma. I religiously did sea salt soaks twice a day from that point on and the bump went away in a little over 24 hours. I continued with the sea salt soaks and was pleased to see that my helix looked, and felt, a million times better within three days.
Unfortunately, that night, for the first time since before the piercing, I rolled over and slept on my right side for a bit. I woke up that morning in a fair amount of pain and discovered that, once again, my helix was on the warpath. It bled a bit so I cleaned it gently with Provon, but that seemed to make it worse. I left it alone and did a sea salt soak that evening which also seemed to make it mad as it started bleeding again. At this point, I cried out of angry frustration. I was trying to help the damn thing and it responded by bleeding?! I finally figured out that while I was trying to help, it was trying to tell me to leave it the hell alone and let it do its thing for a few days. So for three days I left it alone and only checked on it twice a day. At the end of the third day, I stabilized the ring and did a very gentle Provon cleaning. It seemed better and we have now come to an understanding: I will continue to clean it gently while stabilizing the ring and per form the sea salt soaks in order to help it heal. But I will also resist the urge to clean it twice a day as it seems to be left alone for the most part.
My advice:
My advice to anyone who wants to get a helix, or any piercing for that matter especially a cartilage piercing, is to seriously think about it first. Yes, they are beautiful piercings, but please realize that cartilage piercings are one of the most temperamental and one of the longest healing piercings available. Be sure that you're willing to take care of it and be willing to look after it religiously. But all of that is standard advice. My best advice is to really listen to your body. Aftercare is important, but even the best intentioned person can do more harm then good if your body deems your effort is too much or too little. Watch the signs and develop your own aftercare method based on what's best for you.
Good luck and happy piercings! Feel free to email me with questions or comments.