Years ago I saw a picture of a guy with large gauge conch to lobe orbitals and loved the look of the big jewellery.
At A Glance Author jon.e5 Contact jon.e5@bme.anon IAM jon.e5 When A month ago Artist Sam Studio Atlantic Coast body piercing Location Cornwall UK I first had my conch pierced in '98 with a 1.6mm bar (the pain was minimal and I do remember a small crunching sound), Sam from Atlantic Coast pierced it and I kept the piercing for about a year. I sadly had to retire the piercing due to scarring, I was gutted because the spike I wore looked awesome.
Many years passed and I missed my conch so last year I booked another appointment with Sam and had it re-pierced in a slightly different placement. All was well for 3 months or so until I started developing the same ugly scarring as before, I tried sea salt soaks and hot compresses for a while but with no success. I eventually had to retire the piercing again!
I discovered BME a while ago and started to research cartilage piercing, I came across the dermal punch.....
I read experiences on dermal punching and it didn't seem too bad, Many people even described the procedure as less painful than a needle piercing with less chance of scarring.
All I could think about was having my conch dermal punched, It sounded like the way for me to go so I rang Sam and asked her if she carried out dermal punching, She said no but was willing to do it if I was up for it (Sam has been piercing for over 12 years and has an extensive knowledge of both anatomy and modifications).
I decided that I was definitely ready for this and that I wanted the punch done at either 6 or 8mm, So the punches and plugs were ordered.
I chose a blue glass tophat (single flared tunnel) for the jewellery because I don't seem to get on with titanium and steel feels a little heavy to me. The jewellery and punches were ordered and arrived the same week.
I felt that I should get the piercing on Friday or Saturday because I would then have the whole weekend to stop any possible bleeding before work on monday. I booked an appointment for Saturday morning but finished work early on Friday so I gave Sam a ring and she said to come in now....
I started to get a little nervous but was soon put to ease by Sams always friendly manner when I arrived. We sat and talked for a while then checked my ear for any capillaries, It was clear. My ear was too small for the 8mm punch so we decided on the 6mm. My ear was marked once then once more until the perfect placement was achieved.
The jewellery had been sterilized and Sam had prepared a cork covered in surgical dressing to catch the punch as it went through.
I started taking slow deep breaths and the punching began, It was like a very intense pressure with a release as the punch went through the other side (not really painful, just crunchy). I started to feel my ear fill with blood, the jewellery was put in which didn't hurt a bit followed by the O -ring. My ear bled for five minutes or so, Some photos were taken and I was cleaned up. I was absolutely buzzing from the adrenaline, We decided to fish the piece of cartilage out of the punch and studied the layers, I then put it on my tongue and swallowed it with a glass of water (yum!)
I said my goodbyes and promised to give Sam a photo as this was her first punch too. I have been cleaning it with a little Provon at shower time and sea salt soaking it for 10 minutes twice a day. There is no real after-pain like I have experienced with needle piercings and I have confidence the healing will go well.
After speaking to some friends within the bod-mod community
I decided to remove the jewellery (day 5) because a punch heals much quicker with no jewellery in it. The hole quickly scabbed over and I used Provon again to wash it at shower time. Three weeks passed and the scabbing was completely gone. I decided to put a taper in to see what gauge the hole was at, It was 5mm so I'm going to keep it at this gauge for at least three months before stretching it to 6mm (this should allow the piercing time to toughen up ready for the stretch.)
Like I said before I have not experienced any real pain or discomfort from this procedure and would love to get the other ear done when this one is fully healed, But first is a PA at 4mm...
My conclusion is that dermal punches rock for cartilage piercing!