I had wanted another piercing for a while now before I decided on the conch. After taking out my second helix piercing because of bad placement I wanted something else to make my ear look "right." I had a captive bead ring on the upper part of my helix and that's it; sort of bare, isn't it? And since a lip rain is out of the question I had to satisfy my itch for getting pierced by getting something on my ear. Now that I knew I wanted another ear piercing I had to decide which one.
At A Glance Author Ashton Contact espressobreen@hotmail.com When A week ago Studio Dragon Fx Location Edmonton, Alberta I love getting pierced, especially the deciding part. I love looking through all the images at bmezine and seeing what looks good, and what doesn't. Having a face that can only handle a select few pieces of metal before I begin to look "cluttered" makes the decision process even more crucial Tragus looks too "cutsey", lobes are too boring, and orbitals wouldn't suit me. And forget about industrials, they're not for me either. Suddenly I found a picture of an inner conch piercing and I was sold. It had the potential to look sort of like a helix piercing but it looked much more noticeable and a little different. So it was settled, I was going to get my conch pierced.
I got it on the day that I finished school as sort of a reward and as an occasion to mark the end of my high school experience. I was nervous, but really excited. If you're getting pierced at Dragon Fx (or any other place for that matter), here's a tip for you: Go in the morning. The last two times I went it was in the late afternoon and I had to wait a long time to get pierced. Also, there's probably a good chance that your piercer will be much "sharper" in the morning and won't be tired from shoving needles through body parts all day.
I was set on getting a barbell pierced but since they said it would heal and drain better with a CBR I decided to go with the ring (which, in retrospect, I should have gotten the barbell since it wouldn't have gotten caught on things as much as a ring). I wish I remembered the name of the girl that pierced me, because she was wonderful. She sat me down and we talked for a while about the placement. It couldn't be too high or it would rub against my glasses , and not too low so that it wouldn't disappear once I replaced the ring with a barbell. She had to call Lane over to confirm it, and he helped with the placement and marked it in a really perfect spot.
So with the placement decided it was time to get down to business. She told me to lay down on the table as she cleaned my ear. I'm always afraid, for some reason, of them just jabbing the needle in my ear while they're cleaning it, so I tend to act really paranoid during that time. Once she was done cleaning it she told me to take several deep breaths. Exhale, inhale, exhale-- then it went in. I've heard lots of things about how painful conch piercings are and, well, they weren't exactly lying. Getting your helix pierced feels like it's going through butter, but with the conch it's like going through bone and nerve-endings. It also felt like it took a lot longer for the needle to go through, but once it was through it was only partial relief. I noticed that I felt faint and I started shaking, not exactly the type of response I had hoped for. The CBR was uncomfortable going in, almost more painful than the piercing itself, but once it was done and I looked in the mirror I knew it was worth it. Once I walked out of the room I already felt faint. She bought me a pepsi to get my sugar levels back up and I stayed there until I felt more normal.
A quick run to the drugstore for some saline solution and I had everything I needed. The first few days are always the hardest, any little bump and I was wincing in pain. It's my second week with it, almost my third, and it only bugs me if I bump it really hard. Then I'll wake up with some blood crusties, which are always scary to look at.
The most confusing part was that afterwards I emailed lane a question about when I can sleep on my new piercing. He told me flat-out that I'm never EVER to sleep on any of my cartilage piercings because it would cause internal bruising. I don't know about you, but I've been sleeping on my first helix piercing since it healed and I never ran into any problems, so to this day I still don't know if he's right or not. I'd like to get another piercing on my other ear, but now I'm confused as to whether or not this will be safe. Oh well, my conch piercing is great, and hopefully soon I'll be able to sleep on it without any problems.