This all began after I had both my inner conches punched at 6mm. I had my eye on large gauge conch piercings for years and the tiny 12 gauge barbells in my conches just wasn't working. Then just as I knew would happen, I feel in love with dermal punches. I had a 10 gauge punch in my upper ear rim. Simply standard cart ring placement, but unlike every other punch I have, this one would simply not heal. I have had this piercing removed for about a year and it's pretty unnoticeable. But now I will get on with the punch in which I am writing this story on.
At A Glance Author Aaron Contact aschinel@nmu.edu When N/A Artist Michelle Fredericks Studio Impaled Tattoo and Body Piercing Location Marquette Michigan My upper ear flat; I was in love with the look of these large gauge piercings. I knew I wanted a zero, but the idea of such a large chunk of my ear missing in such a noticeable spot I used as an excuse to get it punched at a 4 gauge. I figured I could stretch it in due time, and if it hypotrophaccally scarred on me, I could then punch that out at my desired size. I kind of looked at this as baby steps. I figured if I initially went with a 0 gauge, and it did not agree with me, I could remove it, and be left with Giant hole for nothing. So baby steps.
The initial 4 gauge punch wasn't much worse than my conches. I wore that piercing for about six months, and then right before Halloween, I decided to stretch it. My girlfriend ordered a 6mm beautiful plug from Tribalectic. When that plug came in I was in too much of a rush due to lack of patience and needless to say, I messed up my flat punch by stretching it, when I my cart tissue was not fond of any irritation. (Let alone stretching) I wore that glass 6mm plug for a while, and then downsized back to 4 gauge. However, the downsizing did not reduce any of the scarring due to my sensitive ear tissue and idiotic stretching attempt. The whole experience did however give me the reason and reasoning, to get that scarred 4 gauge donut style dermal punched with an 8mm (0ga) punch.
I was at work in between piercing people one day. My boss Michelle was tattooing some dude on pretty long session. I kept bugging Michelle to punch me, well at least dermal punch me. She told me to set up the room and when she had a moment, she would do so. I however I had to take care of cleanup. When the guy went out for a smoke, Michelle pointed to the piercing room.
This whole experience differed from all my other punches with the fact I didn't have the time to have her line up and me to get my breathing right, or any of the nonsense I do before more intense piercings. Strictly business, no messing around, I previously cleaned the area to be punched and marked what I wanted removed. Michelle came in the room, lined up, and she applied a lot of pressure to that tool. And compared to every other dermal punch I have had done, all five of them. This was one the reason I understand the seriousness surrounding this procedure. That shit really hurt. When I had my inner conches done, I noticed the sound before the pain, and even then the pain was short and intense, but bearable. The upper flat however made me try to curl into a ball while screaming like a toyless toddler.
Jewelry was inserted and I went back to work piercing people. Later that evening after we closed shop, I noticed the double O-ring 0gauge tunnel we initial placed in the piercing was too short. So when I got home I inserted a single flair tunnel which fit much better.
Overall this punch has been the most problem free ear cart piercing I have ever wore, and I have had all of them. Its been about 10 months, and I am super pleased with this decision to get the size I wanted, punched at that size. Stretching cartilage and me don't get along all too well.
The hole isn't nearly as drastic as I assumed as well. I am very pleased with this piercing and the experience in every way. If you are ever in the Marquette Michigan area, stop in and check out Impaled. Michelle who has done all my punches, she is an excellent piercing artist as well as world class tattooist. The other artists at the shop are all top notch as well. Pardo on the tattoo gun, sometimes in the piercing room, Anthony learning the details of both piercing and tattooing, along with myself Aaron I pierce and do a little scarification. This experience was overall great, this piercing is healed, this story is over.