Ever since I saw an industrial piercing on one of my friends, I have always wanted one ever since. Well being 16 at the time I wanted it, it was next to impossible for me to convince my mom to take me and get one. She had been very reluctant on letting me get my lobes pierced, and I had to wait a long time before I could get anything else pierced.
At A Glance Author No_Enemy_Shall_Prevail Contact rr_oconnell@yahoo.com When Six months ago Artist Joe Studio Evolution Location Providence, RI Fast-forward two and a half years, I had already gotten my conch pierced since I was already 18. The itch to get a new piercing had come again on me now, and I knew that I had to get it. Living in Providence, RI for college has been quite easy since there was a studio right down the road from my dorm room. (Note: the funny thing about this studio was that it was right next to a head shop, two places I like next to each other). Anyways I had just barely come back from Thailand from Winter break and I was ready to get pierced. I had the money and all I needed to do was find some free time. My friend, Kris, was 4 years older than me and he used to have a lot of piercings (over 15, but now he has only 1 left). I talked to him about getting the piercing, and he educated me a lot about his past piercings and why he removed them and such. I decided that I would get them anyways.
One morning before I had my classes, I went down to the piercing studio to check it out. I had hoped for Chantal, the piercer who did my conch, to be there to do my industrial piercing. She wasn't there that day, but her co-worker, Joe happened to be there. I had talked to Joe a couple of times before and I knew some people who had been pierced by him, and they were all satisfied with his job. I knew he was legit and decided to go on with it. I told him that I would be back later that evening after my classes for the industrial. I came back later that evening and he measured my ear and found the perfect jewelry for it. He had me fill out some forms and payed my 45 bucks. The guy who worked the cash register, Wes, recited the guidelines for me. Joe put the jewelry in the autoclave machine and I was told to wait for a few minutes. After the machine was done, I was asked to come to the back where I saw brand new unopened needles sitting in the tray. Joe asked me to lie down in the dental chair which he would perform my piercing on. I lied down there and he started to go to work immediately. Him and me talked to each other for a while about music and what kind of music we liked, and I found out that he listened to a lot of the same stuff I listened to, which was punk. He marked the spots and asked me to look in the mirror whether I liked it or not, and I did. Anyways once he got to work and cleaned my ear, he asked me to take a deep breath in and then exhale. Once I breathed out, the stuck the needle through the first hole, and then he asked me to take another deep breath in, and then he stuck the needle into the second hole. I had expected it to hurt much more than it did. Anyways once he was done, he fit in the jewelry in and then had me look in the mirror. I was very satisfied. I left the shop and went to show off my piercings to some of my friends.
The first few days I cleaned the piercing thoroughly. There was some swelling (which I had expected to come so it was no surprise) and it went away after a few days. One night I rolled over in my sleep and I happened to roll onto my piercing. This hurt a lot and it woke me up right in the middle of the night. My ear was bleeding a little bit, but I cleaned it up with sea-salt soak and then went back to sleep. I got some crusties and dried blood in the morning, and I did my best to try and not agitate my piercing too much during the next week. The next week was fine as it wasn't too bad as I didn't really touch the piercing too much.
The next month was pretty fine, with crusties here and there, but it was to be expected. Nothing really eventful happened as I did not touch it or change the jewelry at all. This went on until one day, I decided to go to a Norma Jean concert. Me, being a person who cant resist a pit, whether it be a mosh pit or a hxc dancing pit, I decided to join, with my still healing industrial. I didn't think that anything bad would happen to my piercings until one fucker swung his arm and BAM, right into my industrial piercing. Needless to say, I was pissed at this, but since I felt around it and the cartilage didn't break, I thought that the pain would go away in a few hours or maybe 2 days at the most. Oh how wrong I was. Once the show was over, I was walking back to my dorm room and my friend pointed out to me that my industrial piercing was bleeding. I told him "Oh I know, don't worry about it." I thought it was only a few drops of blood. This was until I went to look in the mirror once I got back to my room that I saw my whole ear (and a little bit of my neck) was covered in dried blood. Panic immediately set in and I washed all the blood off and cleaned the piercing with saline solution. I cleaned it up quite well, but both holes were not just crusted, but scabbed. I decided to leave it in thinking that it would probably heal after a week or two, but how wrong I was. Every time I cleaned the piercing, it would start bleeding again and again. It was until 2 weeks later that I had it and took out my industrial once and for all.
For all of you who want to get this piercing, get it. I liked it a lot when I had it, but don't take any chances during the healing process. I miss it a lot, but if you ask me whether or not I will get it redone in the future, I don't think that I will. Happy Piercing all.