For as long as I can remember, I've wanted more than anything to get pierced and tattooed. My mother was laid back about things like that (she helped me dye my hair for the first time when I was seven or eight) but she didn't have the time to take me to a studio. Besides two ill-advised gun piercings (one in the cartilage of my left ear and one in my left nostril) that were removed because they weren't healing, I had to wait until I was eighteen. My eighteenth birthday came and went but because of the stresses of school and impending adulthood, I never thought of getting tattooed or pierced.
At A Glance Author Yvette Contact yvetteperson@aim.com When A month ago Artist Duck Studio Excalibur Tattoo & Design, LLC Location Shelton, Connecticut Then in April 2007, I was over a friend's house and saw that her nipples were pierced. This piqued my interest in body mods all over again and I finally started thinking about getting a piercing. I wasn't quite sure what to get though. A tongue piercing? An industrial? Maybe a lip piercing? Perhaps I'd get my nipples pierced too. Besides choosing what to get pierced, I also had to come up with the money for a piercing, which I didn't have at the time. I told another friend of mine that I was considering a piercing and she invited me to go with her to watch her get her lip pierced.
So a few days later, we went to Excalibur Tattoo & Design, LLC. While we were waiting, my friend suggested that I get pierced too. I told her that I didn't have the money and she offered to pay for my piercing. Well why not then? I had told her before that ever since I was ten, I'd wanted a tongue piercing so she was pushing for me to get my tongue pierced. I decided I wasn't quite ready for that yet. I wasn't ready to get my nipples done either, and my job would give me hell if I got a facial piercing, so I decided on an industrial. It seemed like a good "starter" piercing.
So there I was, sitting in the chair getting my left ear marked while my friend looked on, her lip freshly pierced. I was so nervous! Before Duck could get the needle through the first hole, I flinched. I took a few deep breaths and before I knew it, the needle had gone through the first hole. I was surprised at how little it hurt. The second hole hurt a bit more, presumably because it went through a bit more flesh than the first. And then it was done. There was a dull aching in my ear, but nothing I couldn't handle. I looked at my ear in the mirror. It looked awesome! Getting my industrial done made me realize that getting pain is only temporary and that I could handle more than I thought. I made an appointment for a tattoo before I left.
My industrial was healing nicely (the operative word being was, but I'll get to that shortly). I used antibacterial Softsoap to clean it and could sleep on it after about two weeks with no discomfort. But then I got my tattoo and about two weeks after my tattoo, I got my tongue pierced. I was so preoccupied with my tattoo and my tongue that I neglected my industrial. I finally noticed recently that my ear was tender and swollen again, like when I first got it pierced. Then I noticed a red bump near the second hole (the one closest to my hair). About two weeks ago I went down to another piercer my friend knew (Excalibur was closed that day) to get my ear looked at. The diagnosis? A keloid. Apparently my hair product and a barbell that was putting too much pressure on my ear caused it (my piercer pierced my ear with a correctly sized barbell, it's just that my ear was really swollen). Luckily for me, I noticed the keloid while it was still young.
I was advised to change the barbell to a larger size, pin my hair back so it didn't touch my ear, and to be more vigilant in caring for it. I kept cleaning it with the Softsoap, but I don't think it was helping because after about 4 days my ear, in addition to already being swollen, became red and hot. I was and am adamant about keeping my industrial, so I decided to try sea salt soaks instead. I also stopped sleeping on my left side because I figured that all the oils from my hair that transferred to the pillow couldn't be good for it, and although it doesn't immediately hurt me to lay on my industrial, it hurts like hell in the morning after I sleep on it. I've had my industrial for nearly two months now. The keloid is still there, but it is much smaller now and my ear is not as red, swollen or hot as it was before. Those sea salt soaks worked wonders. Hopefully I can get it to completely disappear. Even if the keloid never goes away, I still want to keep my industrial. I can't imagine my ear without now. It's like an actual part of me.