English is not my first language so I apologize for any spelling mistakes.
At A Glance Author JonnyYoung Contact JonnyYoung@bme.anon When A week ago Let me tell you a little bit about my background: I live in a small town in the small country in Costa Rica in Central America. Body Piercing and Tattoos is not very popular here as it is in North America or Europe, although there is a growing community of modified people. Culturally, it faces a lot of misunderstandings, most of the people are very close-minded (by facts like religion for example) and think of body modification as a symptom of a mental disorder or a way to gain attention (this last argument is usually true but speaking in general is always incorrect), now and then you can see a little article on the news paper saying something almost satirical like: "Fashion Trend mutilates our children". This almost always forces somebody to change his/her mind to not get a tattoo or a piercing.
I was first attracted to body modification at the very early age of five or six. My brother and his friends are heavily tattooed. I remember watching their "drawings" all the time hoping to get one of my own someday. This little wish escalated into other kind of mods, mainly body piercing.
Now I'm 16. For several years I have had the desire to modify my body to my liking but have encountered many obstacles: my parents(still are very unsure about most body-mods ), school (here in Costa Rica, many schools keep a very military code of rules, any kind of visible modification is absolutely out of the question ) and personal hesitations among others.
Not too long ago, some things happened and I was transfered from an extremely strict school to the -probably- most liberal institution in the country, and because of that; the numb desire I was talking about was remembered and I started reading compulsively every article I could find in BME and other web sites. It didn't take long before I convinced my mom and dad and was in my way to the piercing studio.
Why I chose a dermal punch: For some reason, larger gauge piercings are my favorite.
Where: I enjoy a lot a hidden modification; so I chose the lower inner conch, it is practically invisible unless I tell you.
It took some time before I made my mind completely though. But one day I was walking down the street and saw a piercing studio and walked in; I asked the guy at one of the couches if they dermal punched ears and they advised me that the only guy that could safely perform one was Cortez at 506 Studio. The next day I went to the studio and talked to him, he informed me about the procedure and their piercing room, everything looked nice and clean so I was satisfied about the clinical aspect of it all.
Two days later my dad told me he could take me to get pierced. I came to the conclusion that if I thought about it too much I would never get it done so I grabbed my pants, put them on and got in the car. At this point I was quite nervous because I imagined a very painful gory piercing but decided to ignore that. I arrived at the studio and told the other piercer that I was getting my conch punched that day, he got everything ready and we waited for Cortez.
I know must of you only want to know how bad it hurts so Ill take over that subject right now. Cortez put all the tools on a silver plate on the table, cleaned my ear, and told me to relax and breath. I was breathing nervously and felt a hot pinch in my ear and the cartilage cracking and that was it. It was painful yes, but nothing uncommon, my ear was hot and bleeding but besides that, it was like it never happened. It was very enjoyable. Right after; Cortez talked to me about the after-care and handed me a sheet of paper with instructions along with appointments to check on my piercing. I walked out, took the bus and went home.
Im planning on getting both of my conches punched (right now I only have the right one ) but Cortez advised me to get one at a time to avoid sleeping problems or other complications.
-The aftermath-
My dermal punch has not presented yet any complications at all. It has not bled, it has not been painful and it doesn't bother at all unless I accidentally touch it. I have been doing the salt soaks every day and care not to touch it a lot (sometimes it is just not possible).While I sleep, I try to rest on the other ear only to avoid hurting the hole, but I can rest on the other ear already. I can't wait to get my other ear punched as well and move on to the next modification (probably implants).