Since you're here reading my piercing experience on BME's site, you can probably relate when I say that I find body piercing to be highly addictive. My latest piercing is a fine example of this addiction.
At A Glance Author Kaytress Contact Kaytress@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Austin Studio Desired Skin Location Big Rapids, MI I went shopping downtown with a few friends, and after we finished, we stopped at a fairly new tattoo and piercing shop in town that I've heard excellent things about. I walked in with the intention of buying a new labret stud for my labret piercing, but I should know better than that. As soon as I walked in, I got that familiar tingle. We walked around and checked out the shop for awhile, and then talked about custom jewelry with the piercer. My friends and I shot the shit with the piercing artist for about 20 more minutes. He told me about how he really likes doing ear projects. I, at the time, had 16 ear piercings and wanted more. I listened intently as he described a tri-hole project he wanted to do that involved Tygon, an extremely flexible and transparent medical-grade tubing. The Tygon is internally threaded, allowing balls to be screwed onto the ends. The proposition made me drool. I asked how much he'd charge for such a project, and the $80 he spit out was too much for my college student budget. After more talk about the project, he decided that he'd do it for $60. We talked about placement, and came up with several ideas. We decided to make the entrance of the first hole down through the helix, taper the Tygon through my existing lower industrial hole, which would have to be stretched from 16g to 14g, around the back of my ear, and back in through the upper/outer conch area. A ball would sit right on the top of my ear, and then another would sit in the conch area. I decided to go for it.
He went to work getting all of his sterilized equipment together, and I discussed the procedure with my friends. When he returned, the tattoo artist came with him, because he wanted to see this piercing spectacle. The piercer asked me to lay on my back on the table. This was something new to me, since all of my past ear work had been done while sitting upright in a chair. He explained that since it would take a fairly decent amount of time, require multiple holes and needles, and reduce my ability to pull away from him, it'd be far easier to have me lay down. I laid on my back on the table and turned my head to the left. I had the tattoo artist directly in front of me watching intently, the piercer on my right side, and my two friends behind him, getting increasingly squeamish. After more explanation about what he was going to be doing, he got to work. The first needle into the helix went just fine, not a problem at all. Unfortunately, having about five inches of plastic tubing pulled through a raw, fresh hole is NOT a pleasant experience. Not only is it painful, but it's slow. After the tubing had made its way through, he got a fresh taper and needle. They then went through my former lower industrial hole. Even though it was being stretched from a 16g to a 14g, I barely felt it. After another fresh needle and taper, next came another new hole, coming into my upper/outer conch region from the back. That hole hurt a bit more than the first, since all the blood in my body had by now made its way to my right ear. Pulling the tubing through that hole was ten times worse than pulling the tubing through the first hole. My whole body tensed up and I just gritted my teeth. It seemed to take forever since he had to pull it through slowly, but soon enough, it was all over with. He cut off the unneeded Tygon, but left about an excess inch to accommodate swelling. After he was done, he screwed balls onto each end, and fit my former upper industrial hole with a brand new 14g CBR. He took a good amount of "\Ãw@g9 time to make sure the piercing was clean, and to clean off any blood on my ear. Surprisingly, there was very little blood. I now felt like I had a human heart on the side of my head, but from the tattooist's remarks and my friends' squeals of joy, I knew it had to look fucking awesome. The tattooist claimed it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen. After the piercer was done cleaning me up, I finally got to scope out my new ear project in the mirror. It is definitely awesomely original. I doubt I'll ever run into anyone who has anything even similar. The piercer took several photographs for his portfolio, and gave me my aftercare instructions and everything. I've had the piercing for about 32 hours now, and my ear is still pretty swollen and pissed off. It was definitely worth the time, money, and pain. I've shown it off to everyone that I can. When it heals, I hope to get a piece custom made for it.
So, my advice to you is:
1) If you have an addiction like I do, don't walk into a piercing shop if you can't afford it. It's too hard to resist.
2) If you get that familiar tingle and have money to spend, go for it. It's always so worth it in the end.
3) Let your piercer do something crazy that he/she has always wanted to do. You'll be proud you have something unique to show off.
Happy piercing everyone :)