I guess I should start this disappointing experience out with stating that during the past year in particular, but also throughout my entire life I've been susceptible to sickness and always seem to have a low immune system. I may have to write that disclaimer in a few of my negative experiences that are yet to come.
At A Glance Author xCatWomaNx Contact xCatWomaNx@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Eric Studio Soul Survivors Location Winnipeg Now on with the story!
I had just gotten my inner conch pierced on my left ear several months earlier and it had healed beautifully. Exactly what I had wanted even before I knew that piercing existed. I now wanted a different piercing on my right ear that would create a visual balance. (Yeah yeah, I'm a dorky designer) I went through the BME galleries and found a smaller section called "snug piercing". One guy had his done at an angle with 2 different sized beads. I thought the angle idea would compliment the shape of my ear perfectly and soon after made an appointment at my shop.
When appointment time came around I was warned heavily that this piercing could be quite a bitch to heal and I would NEED patience. I am known in my design work to have great patience and go to extreme lengths to add every little detail that I think would add to the design, so I said "Hey! No problem. Patience is my middle name."
Getting it pierced wasn't that painful actually, or maybe I've just had much more painful piercings that I can't tell anymore. We used a 16g captive bead ring (cbr) for starters during the healing period. I always find it odd how so many piercers have the opposite opinion on what jewellery to use on this piercing be it bars or rings. My piercer knows that my body needs a fair bit of room for swelling and that I've always had better luck healing with rings.
In the weeks to come there was the usual discomfort through sleeping, though I dulled the pain with Ibuprofen, and the typical tiny bit of bleeding the first two days and LOTS of swelling. After that it was just crusty city. About 3 weeks later, I was cleaning it with a Q-tip and the solution provided by the shop when I noticed what appeared to be a slight tear above the hole of the side that was supposed to be higher than the other side. I got out my ruler and awkwardly tried to see if the slant was as drastic as it was when I had originally got it done. It wasn't. It appeared as if the higher side was migrating downwards and so I made my way to the shop to have Eric check it out.
I had the jewellery removed and Eric said that he would re-do the piercing for me for free after the initial hole had healed. 6-8 weeks later I made another appointment. We decided on a 14g cbr this time around and to also increase the angle at which the piercing would be done at. The second time it hurt a bit more obviously because of the scar tissue, but honestly I always find the procedure much less painful than the constant ache during the healing process.
And healing this thing, oh boy. It took 6 months for the swelling to go down enough for me to have different jewellery put in, and even then my ear was not the same shape it used to be. Large scars or bumps had disfigured the area on both exits of the piercing. The contrast in what my ear looked like before and after the piercing was quite drastic, but since no one but me had really payed any attention to what my ear looked like before it really wasn't that noticeable. With the different jewellery in, a 14g titanium curved barbell with the different sized bead, the scars were much less noticeable, but the piercing still hadn't healed and did not resemble my early mental pictures of it. It was still nice looking piercing; I'm just an extreme perfectionist.
I should also mention that for the year and a half that I had my snug, I did sea salt water soaks once or twice a week and babied it like you wouldn't believe. I finally decided to give up on it when I started taekwondo, since my ear still crusted and hurt to sleep on it. Plus the thought of getting "kicked in the snug" just made me cringe. My ear has since returned to it's former shape with a couple little scars that you would only notice if you knew what you were looking for and were closer to my ear than I would likely let you be. That's the good thing about cartileage over lobe piercings. If you do decide to remove them, the scars are quite invisible. Lobe piercings leave that tell-tale little hole or indent.
It was easier for me to retire this piercing because it had never really achieved the specific look I had set out for, but despite this I do still miss it at times. Good luck to anyone who wants this piercing as it is very aesthetically pleasing. Please don't let my experience discourage you, I'm sure not everyone will have such bad luck with it as I did.