Ok, to start off with I'll give a brief history of other body piercings I have received. I have both tragus', both rooks, one lobe in each ear, one snug, and a standard navel. My snug is my most recent piercing.
At A Glance Author Tiffany Contact captaintiffany16@yahoo.com When Three months ago Artist Tracy Studio Tribal Rites Location Boulder, Colorado So one day I was looking on BME trying to find a new ear piercing that I liked. I came across pictures of the snug and I didn't like it at first, but the more I looked at them the more I fell in love. I like to do my research on piercings before I go and have them done, so I began reading various experiences on it and aftercare suggestions. So I knew it was basically going to hurt a lot and take a super long time to heal! But I wanted it anyway.
After a couple of weeks of research I decided on a new shop that I had heard was amazing and also cheap ($20 per piercing!) in Boulder. I took a couple of friends with me since I feel a lot more comfortable getting holes in my body with company on the trip to Boulder. Deciding that I should probably get two piercings at one time would be best, I went into the shop with the intention of getting one of the rooks I have and the snug. The guy at the counter was very friendly and talkative while I filled out my paperwork and I felt extremely comfortable in the shop the whole time.
When the time came to get my two new piercings I was getting rather nervous about the snug (I already had one rook so I knew what to expect from that). I asked Tracy to do the rook first so I could decide after that if I still wanted the snug. She pierced my rook and it went well so I was ready and excited for the snug! We agreed on the placement and she told me to breathe in and then on the out she would pierce. I breathed in when she asked me to, breathed out when she said to and almost began screaming. The pain was SO intense. Usually I find that putting in the jewelry hurts more then the actual piercing, but that was not the case with my snug...this one hurt BAD! But after the jewelry (an 18 gauge curved barbell a little long to accommodate for swelling) was in and I was all cleaned up (no bleeding at all!) I looked in the mirror and absolutely loved it! It was my favorite by far and although it was swollen and red, I couldn't wait to show it off! I tipped her, thanked her, and we were on our way back home to show some people!
Since I was told that these are so painful to heal, hard to take care of, and have only about a 60% chance of survival (which I'm not 100% sure is true, its just what I was told my piercer) I took care of it very diligently. I used warm sea salt soaks 2x a day starting that night and cleaning once daily in the shower with Provon soap after the first week. It got bumped a lot, which caused extreme pain, but didn't seem to affect it healing wise. I moved down to Texas after a week of having it and the climate difference didn't seem to make a difference on healing, which made me very happy! It was still extremely sore three weeks after having it, but I still loved it and was not even close to ready to take it out so I continued cleaning it and taking very good care not to sleep on it or snag it on anything.
I was at a party one night and the unfortunate happened. Some guy accidentally ripped my favorite piercing. I was extremely upset and in tears due to the amount of pain he had just caused me. I couldn't look at it until I got home for fear of yelling at the person who had possibly ruined my hard work. When I got home 2 hours later I was very surprised to find that the soreness in my snug had actually subsided. It was actually not hurting at all for the first time since I had it pierced. When I looked in the mirror I saw the he had indeed ripped it downwards on the inside hole, but it still looked ok. I was sad that the perfect horizontal angle was ruined, but happy that the soreness had greatly subsided.
I think my snug needed the angle change because although some mornings when I wake up after I have slept on it, it still hurts, it feels much better now! I still clean it in the shower with Provon, but no longer use the sea salt soaks. My snug is doing very well and it is still, by far, my favorite piercing!
So my advice would be that if you're ready for an extreme amount of pain for the first two months or so, and you're ready for a lot of aftercare, and this is NOT your first ear cartilage piercing...then go for it! It takes a lot of work to make this piercing heal, but if you have the time and desire to do so it is a great piercing! Good luck! If you have any questions feel free to i.m. me on AIM at captaintiffany16