Well, the piercing of my daith. Possibly not the most fun I've ever had but eventful defiantly. I've wanted this piercing since I first got into piercings, but I got a succession of others instead for some reason, like my tongue, nipple, inverse navel etc. I read some experiences, which ranged from not even feeling the needle, to the most terrible pain imaginable. I looked at some pictures also and decided what the hell? I think this is the piercing for me.
At A Glance Author Rhi Contact Rhi@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Lee Studio Savage Art Location Bedford My friend said she would pay for a piercing for my birthday, so I took the opportunity to pierce my daith. I've wanted it done for a long time but never got round to it, new ones caught my eye and such. So anyway off we go to town, stopping for some foodage, always advisable. Then we walked down to Savage Art and the piercer was doing a tattoo so we had to come back in 40 minutes. Which was ok because we had time to browse and buy some sweeties and stuff.
So we came back in later and got down to business. I asked him how much a daith piercing would cost (because my friend was paying I didn't really want to go over £25) and he said £20. So that was good. He took a look in my ear to see if I was all right to have it, which I was, and had a feel of my cartilage (which is luckily rather soft). Then I went into the room and sat down in the trusty yellow chair ready to be stabbed. He marked up my ear and asked me to check the placement. Which was on my rook . So I said no, daith and pointed to it again. He cleaned off the mark and put another one, and I was happy with it :). So the process started with the spraying of the antiseptic stuff, then came the needle.
Now I've had cartilage piercings before (tragus, industrial blah blah) so I kind of knew what to expect, and as it went in I thought 'well, this isn't to bad'. Then the pushing stopped and I thought cool that was quick and relatively painless. So I ask 'done?'. Of course not, that would be considerate of my body. So I prepare for the next, and in my head final push. This was, to say the least, slightly more painful than the first. I uttered some blasphemy and curses then gathered myself. It had to be done now right? No. 'Just a bit more'. So I brace myself. This part wasn't as painful as the second push, but more painful than the first. Well then now came the fun part. After removing the needle from my stupidly chosen piercing, possibly the most awkward place to be pierced EVER, there was some struggle getting the ring in. At this point, fearing for my ears adherence to my head, I was ready to give up. But of course, he managed to get it in, with some pain. The putting in of the ball was actually quite nice; the tool was cold and therefore soothing for my throbbing ear.
So after sitting down on the sofa and soaking up minimal blood for a few minutes, I paid and left. There was some soreness and bleeding afterwards, so I bought some ibuprofen to stop it swelling too much and stop it throbbing in the cold. Then I bought some more stuff and hopped on the bus home.
Aftercare was rather uneventful. The usual crusties, swelling and tenderness for the first few days but it settled down very quickly. I could sleep on it perfectly after the first week, and tenderness to the touch stopped after around 3 weeks. After around 2 1/2 –3 months, it is almost healed, still a few crusties but doing fine. I am a very quick healer though, as it is supposed to take slightly longer!
To clean it, for the first two weeks I used cotton buds and a very mild saline solution, which has always worked well for me with all my piercings. After I could touch it a bit more and the swelling had gone down, I started to wash it just in the shower with Simple soap, which has no colours or perfume etc. To be honest my modifications heal best when left to there own devices, as long as I baby them at first. I would recommend not being to violent with you hairbrush, as I caught my ring on a bristle once... wasn't enjoyable. I would recommend wearing a hoop in the piercing whilst healing though, as I found it very easy to clean, as it is a difficult enough area without two balls blocking the wounds.
So all in all, a pretty good experience. Some pain at first, then none and a quick healing process. Big thumbs up for the daith.