I'm not even sure how long I have wanted a helix piercing. At least 5 years. I remember having this little silver ear cuff thingy I would stick on it in high school, but I never got it done. Finally, near the end of April, I did.
At A Glance Author sheduma Contact sheduma@bme.anon IAM sheduma When Three months ago Artist It's a secret Studio His house Location Soldotna, AK The guy that pierced me was a piercer in Utah when he lived there, but he doesn't have the paperwork with him to be a piercer here, so he just pierces people he knows with no money involved. I know him from the mall. That's all I'll say about him, since it probably sounds shady, etc, but everything was as clean as possible, and I didn't have the money to go to a shop. The only shop around here probably isn't even that much cleaner. This guy refused to do anything without autoclaved tools and jewelry, and gloves. Still, I suggest that everyone go to a real studio that you know is clean and professional for any piercing or other modification.
After he did two other piercings on me (Monroe and tragus, which I will write about later,) he pierced my helix. I wanted it on my right ear, at the very top. I didn't want it in the actual rim, sitting parallel to my head as I've seen on some other people. I wanted it perpendicular. With the way it is placed, however, I can't wear rings as small as I'd like, so it doesn't "hug" the rim of my ear as I'd hoped. It's actually a bit more of an outer conch piercing than a helix. No big deal, though. That part of my ear is going to get cut off as soon as I have the chance to get my ears pointed.
I had him use a 7/16" 14g "high polish" titanium (I can't wear steel) CBR, which I expected to downsize later on (no such luck, like I said.) The pain was definitely there, but not as bad as the tragus had been. There was the popping of skin, then cartilage, then skin, but again not as bad as the tragus. Pain is only temporary, and, though sharp, it was soon over with. He couldn't put the bead in because we didn't have the right ring closing pliers with us. That was a pain to do myself.
Over the course of the last couple months, I wore a labret stud in it for a while and that helped it to heal better. It was a bit too long, but it flopped around less than a CBR. I wouldn't suggest for anyone to change jewelry on healing cartilage (or any other) piercings, but I knew the risks of it closing up in my attempts, or getting really irritated, and I decided to go for it. I now have a green titanium CBR in it with a steel bead.
As far as aftercare, I generally subscribe to the less is more train of thought. I kept it clean, tried not to touch it, and did a couple of salt soaks a day. I used distilled water and non-iodized sea salt, ¼ teaspoon to 1 cup of water. I'd get the water as warm as I could without it hurting me. Cartilage doesn't have as large of a blood supply as most of your body, so the heat from soaks is very important. It encourages blood-flow to the area, which in turn helps you heal faster. From what I understand, it also decreases your chances of infection. True infections in body piercings are rarer than most people think, but they can be extremely serious, especially in cartilage piercings, so heat is good!
To do the soaks, I used bits of cotton ball dipped in the salt water and put a bit on each side of my ear (entrance and exit wounds.) I also tried dipping my ear into a cup filled with the salt water solution, but that got pretty hard on my neck. I would do the soaks for around 15 minutes, getting new bits of cotton ball fairly often. There would be quite a bit of lymph and sometimes blood, especially from the back (exit wound.)
Something to remember – always be sure to rinse the salt water off of your skin with fresh (preferably distilled) water after doing a soak. If you don't, the salt can dry out your skin and irritate your piercing.
The thing I'm bad about is slacking on salt soaks when my piercings get past the initial healing phase. As they settle, I neglect them. I'm bad! Don't be like me! It's always worth it to take the time to baby your piercings until they are fully healed. Cartilage piercings can be a big pain to heal completely, and they can take a long time to do so.
My helix is healing pretty well. There is some scarring on the back from the way the ring sits, but I think it'll be okay, given time to fully heal. I have to be careful not to sleep on it or bump it or get hair products in it, etc. When it was fresh, hitting it happened way too often and hurt sooooo bad. It still hurts if I accidentally hit it, but not as bad. It's much more healed, and I remember that it's there now. It seems like it will heal well and be my friend... until I pay someone to chop it off my head.