I want a lot of piercings, including facial ones, but I go to a Catholic school so I'm limited to ear piercings now. I had always thought conch piercings were really awesome and I had wanted a new piercing. But I was hesitant about getting it because of the pain. I had read many stories on BME that said that it hurt really bad and more than a tragus, and my tragus hurt a lot. I had gotten it done about a month and a half ago, but it's still not fully healed.
At A Glance Author Laura Contact Lauraa11244@yahoo.com When It just happened Artist Matt Studio American Tattoo Location Verona, PA I thought that the conch was a really cool piercing and I showed a picture of it it to my friend. She had just gotten her rook done and I thought she would like it. We decided that we would both get it as like a friendship piercing:) We wanted to go together but her mom wanted to take her when she got paid. So earlier today she had called me and said her mom wanted to take her today. I wasn't planning on getting mine done just yet because my tragus is still healing. We wanted to go to American Tattoo because we had gone there before and liked it and the piercer was hot ;)
So they picked me up and I was pretty excited for my friend. On the way there her and her mom had suggested that i get mine done. I thought about it for a while and decided to just get it over with, and I said that we should get something to eat because I hadn't eaten yet that day. We went to the gas station I got a hot dog and pop so I wouldn't pass out because I was feeling shaky to begin with. Then we left for the shop and I started to get nervous.
When we went in the shop we signed the papers and Matt got the stuff ready. I had gotten my tragus pierced there so I knew how it went. The shop we went to is pretty small and there were quite a few people in there. But anyway we went back to where they do piercings, and since I got my tragus I had been reading a lot of things on this website about autoclaves and cleanliness. So I decided that I would watch how he cleaned and prepared everything.
I was surprised when I saw that he didn't use an autoclave to clean the rings, instead he put them in a cup with some sort of liquid, and some other stuff didn't look perfectly sterile so I was a little freaked out by that. But decided that I had gotten pierced here before and had basically no problems, and I really wanted my conch done that day.
My friend got hers done first because I started to have second thoughts and I got really scared. I watched my friend get hers pierced and she said that it didn't hurt that bad but she has a huge pain tolerance. So I started to get really nervous. Then Matt started to get the stuff out and I asked to be pierced with a barbell and he said that he only uses ring for initial piercings. I was kind of mad about that because I read that it's easier to heal with a barbell because it doesn't get touched as much.
Anyway i sat on the seat thing it's like where you sit when you go to the doctors. He got the stuff out and marked the spot where he was going to pierce it. I liked it so he got the needle and cork ready. I was really scared but I told him to just do it and not count. He lined up the needle and pushed it through. It did really hurt, but it was like a different pain than I was expecting and it only lasted a second, and I did hear a little crunch. Then he put the ring through and that probably hurt more than the actual piercing. It hurt afterward and burned for like a second, but it was bearable.
I looked in the mirror and it looked really good. But I think when it heals I'm going to put a barbell in it because I like how it looks with that better.
He gave us the care sheets and asked if we wanted him to repeat the instructions but we already knew them. So then we paid, tipped, and thanked him. After we left it still hurt but not that bad. Now it still hurts but nothing bad at all. I did hit it while changing clothes and that was pretty bad, but I just have to learn how change without hitting my ear. It also sucks using the phone because it's on my right ear.
I really like my conch and I would recommend it to anyone who has thought about it and can deal with pain. And make sure to go to a good clean shop with someone you trust:)