Roughly two weeks after I had my first industrial piercing, I returned back to the studio to have the same piercing on the opposite ear. We had intentionally only done one at a time, in part to gauge how well my body would react to the piercing, and to also allow the first to heal slightly so I would be able to sleep and talk on my phone comfortably. My first industrial on my left ear was doing well with little complications, so I wasn't nervous about having it done again. I'm a stickler for symmetry and having only one was driving me batty!
At A Glance Author UberAlice Contact UberAlice@bme.anon IAM UberAlice When It just happened Artist Meg Barber Studio Beelistic Tattoo & Piercing Location Cincinnati, OH I arrived at Beelistic and signed another release for the new piercing, and had Meg take a look at it before we decided to go forward with the second one. I had told her earlier that I was coming, and she had all of the equipment autoclaved and ready to go. It was just a matter of paperwork and we were back in the now-familiar piercing room. After removing the labret studs I wear in my helix piercings, she again measured my ear and marked the location of the two piercings, taking special care to check back and forth with the industrial on my left ear to make sure that they lined up correctly. No sense in having two if they don't match, right? After marking my ears, I stepped over to the mirror to ensure that they looked straight were in the location I wanted. Most people don't realize this, but your body is naturally asymmetrical, and putting two piercings in the exact same location is nearly impossible as your right and left sides often differ just a little bit. In my case, my left ear is a little closer to my head than my right, and the cartilage rim is slightly thinner. After a dizzy few seconds whipping my head back and forth to look at one ear and then the other, it looked good to me, and I trusted Meg's judgement, so I lay down on the table, scooted my butt into a comfortable position, and got ready.
It was slightly strange going through the same procedure that I had just been through two weeks before. We were even using the exact same jewelry (12g fuchsia titanium barbells) as my other ear. I wasn't anxious or nervy, since I knew exactly what was going to come and how it was going to feel.
I thought.
Meg lined up the needle and the taper, and asked me to breathe deeply in and out like I had before. "Hey, nothing to this," I thought, "Last time didn't hurt, so this time probably won't....HOLY GOD." Remember how I mentioned that my right ear is slightly thicker than my left? I could DEFINITELY feel it this time. What felt like a slight pricking and then warmth on my left side felt tight, sharp and warm all at the same time, and it felt like the taper was a foot long as Meg slid it through. I must have looked ridiculous with my face squished up and a needle sticking out of my head. I remembered the front of my ear hurting worse than the back during my left ear's piercing, so aside from my ear feeling like it had a gigantic piece of metal through it I was doing okay.
"Hey, you're bleeding a little," Meg said as she got the equipment ready for piercing #2. That was another difference between ears: my left ear had barely bled at all, and only from the second piercing, and not the first. I was still wincing a little when Meg got ready to pierce the second location on my ear. This time, I steeled myself for a little more pain, and I felt the same burning and stinging as I had a minute before. It was briefer, however, and I spent an uncomfortable few seconds squinting as Meg screwed the barbell together. The pain had subsided a little and my whole ear felt very warm and slightly pinched at the top. She very gently cleaned the blood off, and the cool cleaning solution felt SO good on my tender ear. I got up and looked at it, and felt my head tip ever so slightly to the right. I was symmetrical again! My ears finally matched and it looked (and felt) awesome.
We went into the outer room to chat for a minute before going downstairs to pay, and as I was standing there I felt the most peculiar thing. It felt like my ear was sliding somehow, and in my right ear I felt a noise like a sponge being squished. "Holy crap, Meg, that was weird!" I said as she laughed. I have never felt anything quite like that; I presume it was my upper ear straightening out around the barbell that caused the sound and the feeling.
On the walk home, the cool air felt wonderful on my ear, but just as with the left direct wind on it caused it to ache a little. I bopped myself several times trying to answer my cell phone, but by the time that I got home after running some errands a few hours later, the pain was all but gone.
So overall, how was the experience of piercings number 18 and 19? Not too bad. I knew what I was getting into, and I'm glad I had my left done first because I was less nervous during the more painful procedure on my right ear. I was in the hands of a very capable and knowledgeable piercer, and knew that my body could handle this piercing without much incident. The only thing that I regret now is that I hadn't gotten my industrials sooner! They nestle against my 4 existing helix piercings, and in time I think could be turned into a really interesting ear project.