Hello there.
At A Glance Author AmarettoCream Contact AmarettoCream@bme.anon When A week ago Studio Divine Location Edmonton, Alberta, Canada So yes, I just got my third helix piercing a week ago (in total, my sixth piercing).
This would be the first time I got my cartilage pierced with a needle, rather than a gun. I'm very, very lucky my other 2 helix piercings did not get ruined and they healed up very nicely. The only reason I got it done with a gun before is because when I was still under 18, my parents didn't agree with me getting my helix pierced, so I had to sneak off and go to a mall place to get it done without them ID'ing me. Yeah that was a very stupid decision of mine. All I can say now is, never get anything gun pierced.
Ok so back to the story, I walked into Divine studio (after making an appointment first of course). I wasn't scared or anything, because I have quite a high tolerance to pain. The only difference is, I'm getting my helix done with a needle, which is safer and more hygienic then with a gun. I've gotten pierced with a needle before, just not my previous helix piercings.
At Divine, they brought me aside and explained how to take care of my piercing, how not to touch it, and how I should NOT rotate it (I've read that so many people rotated their jewelery. This is bad for you because infections could get trapped inside your body). Anyways, the room was very clean, and my piercer was very hygienic and experienced. He kept changing his gloves (must have gone through around 6 glove changes!) and he made sure all the equipment was clean. He asked me a series of questions (any allergies? have you eaten in the last 5 hours? any health problems?...) He also made sure to answer any questions I had.
Here was the process:
Cleaned my ear, Marked the spot (of course made sure I liked the placement), Pierced it, and inserted a CBR.
You're probably wondering (if you're a first timer).. Did it hurt?
Well, I can tell you, yes, yes it did. It hurt a lot. It hurt more than any other piercing I've gotten before, it hurt a lot more than my previous helix piercings and it bled a lot more than previous piercings. But it wasn't until later I realized why it hurt so much to get pierced.
So anyways, I went out of the studio, all happy with no problems, only to realize that after a few days, my ear showed unusual symptoms (excessive bleeding, extreme swelling, bruises..). I was in immense pain, and my ear was very purple and discolored. Also, I noticed that the CBR he had put in my ear was a little too small in diameter, so I thought that maybe it might have been putting pressure against my ear so that's why these problems started.I was doing my daily sea salt soaks and cleaning procedure, and I was totally baffled that this was continuing to happen.
Finally, I went back to the studio to inquire about my symptoms. I got it checked out. I was worried, because he told me that my symptoms were extremely rare for helix piercings. Typically, there should only be slight soreness, just yellow puss (no blood), and no or very minimal swelling. So he took a closer look and it turns out it wasn't the CBR being too small. It was the fact that he had pierced through a capillary (which is also why the actual piercing process hurt so much), which is what led to my excessive bleeding, swelling and bruising the days after. I was quite worried when I heard this. Luckily he calmed me down and told me it would be ok.
Good news is, I can still keep the piercing in. I just have to continue to endure the pain and blood for a little while longer. The piercer also told me that the healing process would be much longer than normal since the capillary has to heal as well. The point is, he made sure to let me know, that eventually, my ear will go back to normal.
So here is the lesson, make sure that your piercer checks to see that he is not piercing through a vein (or close to it, which is where the capillary lay). Other than that, just clean your helix once (two times if really needed) a day, don't touch the pierced area (unless you're cleaning), and never rotate your jewelery. Also, I recommend getting it checked up after a couple weeks(even if you are not suffering odd symptoms like me) so that your piercer can make sure things are healing up fine. It's very important that if you notice anything odd, you go ask about it right away so it won't get worse. Also, don't let this particular experience of mine scare you away from a needle, because my previous needle piercing experiences were awesome and painless. Good Luck!