unplanned self-done cartilage
At A Glance
Author anonymous
Contact anonymous@bme.anon
When A month ago
Well everyone knows piercing yourself isn't the best idea, especially if you don't know what you're doing and you don't properly sterilize. Which is what I did. I was sitting watching conan and thinking about piercings because I'm always thinking about piercings. Anyway I was thinking about how I had just increased my labret from 16 gauge to 14 gauge. So I was wondering what I'd do with all my 16 gauge jewelry and for some reason I thought "ooh get another piercing" and then I noticed a pin sitting on the mantel, I have no idea why it caught my eye. But then I thought ok, I'll pierce my nose...it seemed like a 16 gauge labret stud would be PERFECT. But then I realized how piss my fam. Would be if I pierced my own nose! I mean they've been pretty awesome about my piercing obsession and my sisters' so it's all good. but that my shut the whole thing down you know? First of all I already have a facial piercing that I love and a nose piercing would throw off my whole line down the center thing (I'm thinking of a vertical bridge piercing). So then I decided to pierce my own ear cartilage.

I have no idea where this idea came from, I'd never THOUGHT about having anything pierced on my ears. My lobes aren't even pierced! Well they weren't...haha. Anyway I was then standing in the bathroom with a pin from one of those charity ribbons, and I had the labret stud and...well I poured a bit of saline on both and then I took the pin and put it to a random spot on my ear (no I didn't mark it). And I pushed. And nothing happened. And I pushed and it broke the skin. And I pushed and it went through layer after layer of cartilage and it was RIDICULOUSLY painful. It took about 6 minutes to get the pin all the way through.

I was incredibly proud at this point and then I pulled out the pin (OWWWW) and tried to get the labret it. It wouldn't even consider going and at this point my ear was totally pissed off. I wasn't gonna give up so I took a thumbtack that seemed thick and shoved that in...it was more painful than the first time...still the stud would not go in. And then I dropped it. So I tried harder but nothing.

My ear was really really mad at me and it was red and it hurt hurt hurt. So I got some ice and tried to soothe it. It didn't really work cause I didn't leave it on long enough.

I realized that the 16 gauge was not going in. So I ran around the house looking for earings. Like I said my lobes weren't pierced and the only sister living in the house with me at the time is not too into jewelry so I couldn't find one.

But I found a sewing needle that seemed thick. So I shoved that through and that hurt like nothing else...I planned to follow it with a 16 gauge ring...but getting the needle all the way through hurt so freaking much. And then the ring still wouldn't go in...so I was upset and I gave up feeling defeated. I sat back down in front of the tv and saw a little earing stud. I went back into the bathroom and shoved it in with insane pain. It hurt more than anything ever. But I got it through. And I covered it with my hair so my sister wouldn't see...and then the next day I bought a pack of earings myself. Piercing yourself is not a good idea...everyone knows that. But it can be fun. The piercing hurt soooo much but it also made me feel good. It was a piercing and the endorphin rush was INSANE. And it was free. Of course I might pay the price for my lack of real sterilization. I started cleaning 3 times daily with saline...I'm not really prone to infections, for example with my labret, I stopped cleaning it after like the 3rd day...I just swished with listerine when I brushed my teeth as always. I did pretty much the same thing here, it was just the first few days I cleaned it more than once a day.

It's been almost a month now and it's all healed up pretty well except the cartilage still hurts if I hit it too much. I clean it about once every 4 days with saline. I don't think this si a good idea for anyone else to do unless they know their body very well. I know that I tend to heal well and it would be ok but some people will have a ton of complications after following the same procedure.


Disclaimer: The experience above was submitted by a BME reader and has not
been edited. We can not guarantee that the experience is accurate, truthful,
or contains valid or even safe advice. We strongly urge you to use BME and
other resources to educate yourself so you can make safe informed decisions.


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