At A Glance
Author	Lisa
Contact	Lisa@bme.anon
When	Three months ago
Artist	David
Studio	Somatic
Location	Long Beach, CA

I had recently had a good experience with Somatic getting a helix piercing for my left ear first, then my right ear a few months later. David is the only person I would let pierce me, as he is Navy medic trained and really professional. You can just tell that he is passionate about his work and cares about the clients. I thought my ears needed a little something extra, but nothing too crazy. I'm a first grade teacher, so I really can't have anything too obvious. I thought a snug bar would be both interesting and classy, so I decided to go for it.

I went with my friend, Claire, on a Friday night. She's basically my "piercing pal!" ha, ha We had just rescued a dog who had been hit by a car (I'm not kidding) so the karma felt good that night. I was a little freaked out, because I had read and heard this is a painful piercing and the thought of cartilage crunching was more terrifying to me than anything. I wasn't even sure if I was going to get the piercings that night. Unfortunately, David was moving to Oregon in a few days, so it was now or never. I actually had downloaded an image of what I wanted from BME to my desktop, and brought my laptop into the studio to show David. According to him, this is a pretty rare piercing, and I wanted to be clear about what jewelry I wanted, etc.

David measured my cartilage with calipers, and informed me my left ear was better shaped for this piercing than my right. I almost had him only pierce the left side. I was disappointed, but he said it was still doable. We both agreed since I have both helixes done, it wouldn't look right to have only one snug. I showed him the placement after he helped me choose cute little 18 gauge bars, with clear rhinestones inlaid on the ends. He carefully cleaned and marked my ears, and kept rechecking for symmetry. I love that he is such a perfectionist.

Finally it was time. I laid back on the table and basically zoned out. I can kind of put myself in a trance to get myself through physical pain. He told me to take a deep breath, and he pierced me on the exhale. It honestly wasn't bad at all. Sure, there was some pain, but none of those awful crunching noises, thank goodness! It didn't really even hurt when he put the jewelry in; my ears felt almost numb at that point. My right side bled a little, but the left side was much easier, since I knew what to expect. He then re-pierced the second hole on my lobes, which had closed up years ago. Piece of cake! I felt all giggly and woozy, like I had been drinking. We all had a good laugh, while David prepared Claire for her 4th and 5th genital piercings. Good for her, but definitely not for me. I told her I was going to start calling her Bojangles.

I felt good afterwards, but they did start to get a little hot and sore before bed that night. Sleeping was definitely a challenge, and still is, since I'm a side sleeper. Not fun. Over the next few days, the bars felt really tight from the swelling and there was a little blood on my pillowcase in the morning. I was worried that my ears would swell over the balls on the ends. Luckily, that didn't happen and they feel much better now.

This is a very slow healing piercing. David warned me and I had done my research. I expect to have some soreness for a good 6-9 months. I have a bump on my right side, so I'm being extra diligent with the sea salt soaks. I had this same problem with both of my helix piercings. If it doesn't clear up soon, I will go back to Somatic for advice. They are great about aftercare. At first I actually regretted my decision because I thought it was too much metal in my ears. They took a little getting used to, and I haven't seen anyone else walking around with a snug piercing. Some of my friends love it, think it's sexy, cool, etc. and some of them think it's gruesome and hate it. That's to be expected. You can't please everyone, right? Everyone always asks me if it hurt. I also like it because it doesn't show when my hair is down, so I can maintain a conservative appearance when I need to. It looks good dressed up or casual, so naturally, I think it's a perfect piercing for someone who wants to be a little different, but not too outrageous.