(Its better to have loved and lost... you know the rest!)
At A Glance Author Lulu Contact Lulu@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist (Really nice chap... can't remember his name though!) Studio Pro body piercing Location Bradford, UK In my year out before I started university I decided I really wanted a new piercing. At the time I was working at a special needs school, so a facial piercing was out of the question! Having browsed BME generally for a while before even wanting something new, I did know most of the options available for ear piercings.
Around the time that I was looking for my next piercing, a piercing I had previously taken little notice of just caught my eye... the transverse lobe piercings. I became hooked, they all looked so beautiful! I loved the way they looked, and they were exactly what I wanted! Not too extreme for my job but just different enough to be noticed. I hadn't really liked the thought of cartilage piercings, I guess I just imagined getting pierced there would make a gross noise because cartilage its so tough. I hate the thought of someone struggling to pop a needle through it! Friends of mine had their ear cartilage done too and they always seemed to flare up if they got knocked a tiny bit. Not exactly practical when you work with kids all day!
I hadn't planned a specific day to get it done. I guess if you wait for a week for a piercing you build up too many nerves and might chicken out last minute. I also tend to do things on the spur of the moment anyway, so in my true fashion, on a rainy non-descript Saturday morning whilst my boyfriend was driving me to his house I told him to stop in Bradford because I wanted them done right that minute. So we parked up and we went to the piercing place. Simple as that really!
I had been to Pro Body Piercing before, (for my lip, healed then but done again now, and two of my friends had also gotten lips and tongues done there too.) I knew the place was excellent, very clean and warm welcoming staff. There were a few people in there at the time "uuhhhm"ing and "ahhh"ing over which piercings they wanted. I told the piercer what I wanted, horizontal transverse lobes in each ear. He seemed to be looking forward to something a little more unusual. (They were quite unusual 2 years ago!).
I was asked to fill in the paperwork etc whilst he pierced someone who was there before me. That's when the nerves really hit me! My boyfriend asked me if I was nervous... "me... nah" but stomach was telling me otherwise! I had butterflies and I think I might have been shaking a bit too! Finally the piercer finished the person before me, prepared the room for my piercing then called me in.
The next task was tricky, the bars had to pass lower down my lobe than my other piercings. Piercing through an existing piercing hole, back into tissue is not recommended and can lead to infections. (The old piercing can channel bacteria into the new piercing... not a good idea!) So he marked the entry and exit points he was aiming for on my ears they were slightly diagonal, higher on the outsides of my lobes, sloping down to near where the lobe met my jaw. I asked for one to be a bit adjusted just a fraction, he did it a little steeper, he asked me if they were ok, they were perfect.
Whilst examining the marks he had put on my ears and lines drawn on my lobes, I could see how long the bars would be. A little longer than I had expected! The bars would travel a good 2cm across my lobes which at the time seemed quite scary! I was worried my lobes would have been too thin and he might have missed and come out of the side!
The piercer opened the packet of the sterile needle in front of me, and gently held my ear in place, at this point I was a little bit scared, I cannot remember whether or not he used clamps or did it free handed, I remember my ear being held in place somehow!
I'm not the type of person to be macho and say I hardly felt a thing, but it really was not so bad! Obviously it wasn't pain free, but to say he had to pierce quite slowly for so far it wasn't such a big deal. It felt a little like a scratch, then just really hot. The next thing I knew the first ear was done, I could relax now, I was expecting it to be far worse!
The second one went the same, no problems what so ever.
Then I got to look in the mirror, they were absolutely amazing, I loved them! The piercer went through the cleaning and aftercare information with me, he advised a salt water solution to be added 3 times a day and to dry them well after. (Obviously follow the information given to you by your piercer.) I asked the piercer if I would be able to sleep on them, he said they wouldn't hurt too bad so I shouldn't have any trouble. I paid him the £40 (and a tip!) and went out on my way in the rain (which was wonderful on my hot lobes!)
With hindsight now I would probably recommend only getting one done at a time as although they didn't hurt, I didn't really feel comfortable putting much pressure on them right away.
Right from the day I had them done I received lots of compliments about my unusual ear piercings, although a lot of people didn't really understand how the balls stayed at the sides of my lobes, I relished the look on peoples faces when I explained they were joined with a bar right through my ear!
I absolutely loved my piercings, it's a shame its love in the past tense. I kept them in for about a year but they never really took too well. They didn't cause me pain or trouble and they were never infected; they just seemed not to heal all the way through. They migrated a little towards the edge of my ear lobes, they were definitely growing out. So after a year I had to call it quits, they looked bad ass to the end though, don't get me wrong!
The day I took them out I made sure I had loads of hot salty water to clean my lobes with, I cleaned them as well as I could before and after I took the piercings out I knew they would heal over pretty quick so it was important that they were 100% clean so I didn't get an abscess In my ear. It was a sad day for me, but my lobes almost sighed out loud with relief! They were never uncomfortable or particularly painful, just never settled. I have two tiny little scars at the sides of my ears and two little bumps under my lobes that still haven't gone (a year or so after taking them out!) I reckon I will have those for good, but I don't mind because they will always remind me of those piercings!
To anyone planning on getting transverse lobes (horizontal ones) I would recommend you get them as far into your lobes as possible, I think due to my other lobe piercings it was a little too close to the edge of my ear so acted like a surface piercing. I have read stories from people who have had their transverse lobes a long time and they haven't migrated and they healed up just fine. I still think this piercing looks amazing and I'd say to anyone it is totally worth it, even if it is just for a year!