I recently made some fairly major changes to my life - quitting my job, moving to a new state, and starting grad school - and I wanted to commemorate it all with a new piercing. My ears have been feeling rather lopsided to me lately since I've got a daith and a helix piercing in my right and nothing in my left, so the left ear it was to be!
At A Glance Author Stacyj Contact Stacyj@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Sarah Studio Body Rites Location Columbia, SC It took me a week or two to decide just what I wanted - first I thought I'd wanted a conch, then perhaps an anti-tragus ... but finally I decided upon an orbital. Specifically I wanted a horizontal orbital placed slightly above the snug, if you can picture that. In hunting around online and reading different experiences here, it seemed that Body Rites, near the University of South Carolina campus, had had positive reviews and after calling them and asking about their sanitation procedures I felt comfortable with them, so I made my appointment and went on in.
When I met with the piercer (Sarah) and explained what I wanted, she marked my ear up so I could see where it would go in and come out. She also let me know that - though she's had experience with orbitals before - she'd never done one like that (I appreciated the advance warning!). The marks looked good to me, though, and she was willing to give it a go so we went ahead and did it after the usual cleaning/sterilisation procedures (which included making sure to show me the autoclave packages in which the needle and jewelry were sealed - I liked that!). It hurt QUITE a lot, and in examining the holes after she'd made them Sarah felt that a smaller ring than the one she'd planned on using would be better, so it took a little bit longer than normal before the jewelry could be put in (since she'd not had a different-sized ring on hand just then). Another surprise was that - although she did hit the marks she'd made - it turned out that the needle had never come out the back of my ear after all so my orbital was actually more of a somewhat high snug.
I'd felt comfortable with that just then, but after having the piercing for a few days and really thinking about it I just felt that it wasn't -exactly- what I'd wanted. Though it did look very nice, it was sticking out a bit more than I'd really wanted in the front - and after all the hemming and hawing over choosing what piercing to get, I decided I would be happier having the jewelry removed and trying for the orbital again once the holes healed up. I went back to Body Rites and Sarah was very accommodating in removing it for me. Since I now had a fairly small 14-gauge ring and since I still wanted a new piercing, I asked if she could recommend some other place in my ear where it might work (after being autoclaved, of course). She suggested either a tragus or the cartilage directly -above- my tragus; I'd not even considered that latter positioning before but after seeing a picture in her portfolio of a similar one I decided to go with that.
The procedure for this new piercing was much the same as for the earlier one, and soon I had a lovely new piercing in the cartilage directly above my tragus. The process was much quicker this time and the pain, while intense, was over with far sooner. Though it bled quite profusely at first (rather an unusual experience for me; I'm usually not a bleeder!) it's since calmed down and quite honestly I'm almost glad that my orbital didn't work out because I probably never would have considered this piercing otherwise and I absolutely -love- it =) Looking at myself head-on it's extremely subtle, but definitely there - and from the side it just looks so lovely and unusual; I'm already considering getting a matching one in my right ear.
All in all this had been a very positive experience and I would quite happily recommend Body Rites to anybody in South Carolina looking for a good piercing studio. Although being near a college campus seems to mean that they're a lot busier than other places I've been, they seem to take what they do very seriously and left me feeling extremely comfortable with the emphasis they place on sanitation and after care. I appreciated that they gave me not only a detailed aftercare sheet, but also a bottle of Satin and a packet of sea salt for use on my piercing. And more so than anything I really liked Sarah's approach to her work - she was friendly and professional, and made a point of telling me exactly what she was going to do before she did it, which really helped with managing the pain and the "mental jitters" that I usually experience with a piercing. I look forward to going back in a few months to try for that orbital again!