Looking for something different to have done in my ear, and having seen pictures of conch piercings, I decided to go for a conch. I'd had my lip and tragus already done at Body Cult after my friend reccommended me to them and since then had become a regular customer. My lip and tragus had gone really well and I was happy with their work. They have also helped me stretch my ear lobes to a 19mm.
At A Glance Author Syb When A month ago Artist Sandi Studio Body Cult Location Adelaide, South Australia I went in and spoke to Sandi about what I wanted and as she was busy, we made an appointment for the following day. I was excited about getting my new piercing and couldn't decide on the jewellery i wanted in it. I wanted the piercing just above my anti-tragus and close to the edge so I could wear a ring. I decided on getting a circular barbell put through.
The next day, I went into Body Cult excited and ready to get my new piercing done. I told Sandi that I wanted it done with a curved barbell and so she had to bend one big enough to allow for swelling and put it through the autoclave again. While I was waiting, she gave me the aftercare sheet and went through it with me. The aftercare was basically the same as my lip but she wanted to make it clear to me. She told me not to play with it, touch it with dirty hands, and all that kind of common sense stuff. She told me to get some fragrance free anti-bacterial soap to clean it with, and gave me some sea salt from the dead sea to do some sea salt soaks. They normally give out consent forms but I had already done one for my other piercings so I didn't need to fill out another one. My conch, like all piercings done at Body Cult, was done with Titanium. I had problems with my old helix piercing, which I didn't get done at Body Cult, and was told that many cartlidge piercings have problems due to the cheap crappy jewellery used. Having heard that I was very happy to hear the jewellery that was about to be put through me was of the highest quality.
After all the talking and explaining, it was just about time for me to get pierced. Sandi called me over as the autoclave had just finished. I ran over to the piercing room, really excited to get my new piercing. Sandi took ages cleaning my ear. She can be a bit fanatical! After that, she checked me for any big veins or arteries. I was all clear and so she started to mark me. She took a lot of time to make sure everything was perfect. After everything was clean and I was happy with where it was to go, she pulled out the needle and told me to start breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. It made me feel as though I was about to give birth, but apparently it helps with the pain and a lot of people faint by holding their breath. When she picked up the needle I did feel a bit nervous because I was told that conch piercings do hurt a bit. She was quick with the piercing but left the plastic in for a bit as she told me she had to change her gloves to sealed sterile ones to pick up the jewellery. I was very surprised to hear that she hasn't heard of any other piercers in Adelaide that does this. She threaded the jewellery through and cleaned me some more. I jumped off the seat and straight to the mirror. I was very happy with my new piercing. It hurt more than my lip and my tragus. Having said that though, it wasn't overly painful and I'm looking forward to getting my other side done.
It didn't hurt for a long time afterwards but it was painful to sleep on. I stretched my ear lobe a couple of days later and pulling on my conch, it was double the pain! I had a few painful accidents with people hitting me in the ear and stuff which hurt like hell. It took a long time for me to get my headphones in a position that wouldn't irritate my conch but it wasn't too much of a hassle. I did my sea salt soaks nearly everyday and did the anti-bacterial soap in the shower and it all worked out fine. My body healed it really well and I'm sure a lot of that was to do with the titanium.
I am very happy with my new piercing and very happy with Body Cult's work. I would reccomend you all to go there as they take a lot of time perfecting everything and are very passionate about what they do.