I have been interested in body modification since I was thirteen; mainly sticking to my ears and tattoos for various school/work reasons, and in June this year I turned twenty-one! So what better reason for getting a piercing then as a birthday present to myself! I love my ears and therefore love ear piercings, especially the cartilage variety. I already have three lobe piercings in each ear, two upper helix in each ear, my left tragus and my right rook, I don't need my ears to be symmetrical but I prefer to have the same amount of piercings in each ear. So I decided to have my right ear pierced with the intention of having something added to the left at a later date. Now all that was left was to decide on what piercing I actually wanted.
At A Glance Author Emma Contact Emma@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Caroline/Cheryl Studio Akasha Location Cosham, Portsmouth After looking through the various ear piercings on BME I was taken by the idea of having my inner conch pierced, something I had previously thought about but passed over because I was sure I wouldn't be able to go through with it! This time was different though, I thought to myself 'what's a couple of seconds of pain for a lifetime with a beautiful piercing' and that was that, I was convinced this was the piercing for me. Anyway I still had 3 weeks until my birthday and as usual I was getting impatient and thought to hell with it I'll go early, so as I usually do, without telling anyone, I jump on the next bus down to the piercing shop.
I have been to Akasha for the majority of my piercings and they have all been pierced by Caroline who I think is great, she's kind, friendly and smiles all the time which makes me comfortable, especially as I'm putting my lovely ears in her care! Anyway I tell Caroline that I want my inner conch pierced with a barbell, she gets me to fill in all the usual forms to say that I'm old enough, don't have any known health problems and so on, I pay twenty-two pounds and she sends me up to the waiting area. I'm sat there, starting to get a little twitchy-as I always do when I get any piercing and some young guy (looking no more than 17-18) comes up the stairs asks for my piercing form and goes into the piercing room. I'm now getting very twitchy, I was expecting Caroline to do the piercing and am not sure I want some random kid coming towards me with a sharp needle, so as I get up to go plead for Caroline to pierce me the kid comes out and says 'Caroline will be up in a second do you want to come and sit down?' The wave of relief was enormous; the guy I found out afterwards is the new trainee piercer and only sets up the piercing room at the moment.
So I'm sat in the chair, which is always difficult to get onto as I have short legs, and Caroline is going through the procedure with me, she checks the colour of the jewellery I want, she brings out all the equipment in unopened sterile packaging, she marks my ear, checks with me, remarks slightly and once I'm happy with the placement she sets about cleaning. She cleaned my ear, she cleaned the piercing table and covered it in paper towelling, she cleaned her hands and put on a pair of rubber gloves and this is where I know its time.
I sit in the chair looking straight ahead with my head angled slightly away from her. She clamps my ear and tells me that she's now going to pierce it. I'm expecting the biggest amount of pain imaginable, but it doesn't arrive. As the needle goes through my conch there is a second of sharp pain and then it's gone, all I can feel is the blood rushing to my ear and making it as hot as an oven. Caroline puts the jewellery in place and tells me it's done as she grabs the mirror for me to have a look! I instantly fell in love...I was amazed and so glad that I had finally got it done. Caroline cleaned up my ear, offered me a lollipop (standard procedure at Akasha) and then started through the aftercare, which I know by heart now, and that's that, off I go on my way – ecstatically happy!
Its been a few months now and I still love the piercing-so much that I went back after 5 weeks and had my left conch pierced (at Akasha again but this time by Cheryl, who I think is really nice and prefer even though this was the first time I was pierced by her). I cleaned them both twice a day with saline and I've had no problems with healing my conches until recently my left one got a blood filled lump on the back of it but after a week of hot compresses its completely gone.
They hurt for the first week I had them done and I couldn't sleep on the respective ear for a week but after that there was no pain or any trouble, i could even wear my inner earphones fairly soon after without hassle. I still get the odd crusty on the piercings and so I do the usual saline soak once a day but other than that I leave them alone. The only advice I would give is to people with longhair...keep it tied up! I have long hair and it was constantly winding itself round the piercing, so I keep it tied up as much as I possibly can and they are so much happier as a result.
I can't wait until their fully healed and I can change jewellery and not have to worry about them. I would recommend them to anyone and they honestly don't hurt as much as you might think. The conch is a great piercing and I loved it so much I went symmetrical, and I think they make my ears look so amazing!