So, this is really just an update on my conch piercing (also posted here as 'conch for my birthday'). Since I wrote the original experience only about three hours after the piercing, and I may have jumped the gun a teensy bit in my excitement.
At A Glance Author Kat Contact Kat@bme.anon IAM Kat777 When Six months ago Artist Noah Studio Evolution inc Location Albuquerque, NM The first night, and even the next few days, everything went just swimmingly, but, the situation soon changed. When the second day rolled by and I had yet to experience any sort of swelling, I thought I was in the clear. Well, then I woke up on day four or five, and realized the fun hadn't even begun yet at that point.
To back track a bit, I had been doubtfull the day after the piercing when I first noticed how long the barbell really was. There was a quarter inch or more hanging out the back of my ear, and even though it wasn't really in the way (I had decided to keep my hair on that side up in a clip for the first three or four months, just to be on the safe side) it seemed a little much.
Well, back to day four, I woke up to find my ear throbbing, red, swollen, and just generally painful in every sense of the word. It had swollen to the point were only about a millimeter of the barbell was sticking out the back of my ear...so NOW I know what all the length was for at least, any shorter, and it would definantly have embeded and then I would be writing a MUCH different experience wouldn't I?
I was pretty much miserable, and absolutely convinced that I had an infection. The glands behind my ears were tender and swollen (but then, they always are, I have horrible inner ear problems and have since childhood) and I assumed this meant a fatal infection.
I jumped on BME and started reading through everything I could find on infected piercings, and came to the conclusion that I had an infection, it was spreading to my brain, and the cartilage in my ear was going to collapse. Yes I am a bit paranoid.
I started eating anti inflamatories and upped the use of the provon Noah had given me, as well as extending the salt soaks. I finally got my first crusties and oozing, and while the stuff was obviously lymph and dead skin, I somehow managed to convince myself I was dying.
The swelling went down gradually over the next bunch of days(I finally ended up crushing up ibuprofen and soaking my ear in a mix of that, sea salt, and warm water) and the throbbing soon followed suit, but it seemed like forever while I was in the middle of it, as these sort of things always seem to do.
It is now July (the piercing was done in October) and it seemed to be almost healed by january or so, so I went in and had the barbell changed out. This made a HUGE difference in how sore it was. The barbell had by that point become to long again, and since it was hanging out the back, the weight pulling down all the time hurt, along with my hair getting wrapped around the ball and yanked, hitting it with my brush, and just generally getting knocked around. As soon as the throbbing from the jewelry change stopped (Noah also switched the barbell for my CBR)the relief was emmense. All the weight of the jewelry now rests on the outer edge of my ear were the CBR lies, and it looks perfect. This is one of the reasons I recommend Noah to all my friends. I was worried that since the original piercing had been with a barbell, that when the ring got put in, it wouldn't lay the way I wanted it to, but it did, and I was honestly impressed. The fact that he could predict were the piercing needed to be to lie perfectly is pretty awesome in my opinion, since there is a tiny groove type area that just looks made for the hoop and bead, and it lays across it perfectly.
The piercing still acts up occasionally, and I still don't sleep on it as it ends up sore if I do, and probably always will, but I have adapted and don't even notice its there anymore when I lay down to go to bed. It seems I have found a way to sleep on my side without my ear touching my pillow.
While this was definantly the most painful healing (including my nipples) it is now my favorite piercing. So to anyone out there thinking about going for it, do, but realize that it WILL swell, and once you get past that, you can enjoy it.
A few pointers:
If you have hair, keep it off the piercing, hair is like a sponge, and can hold all sorts of bacteria and gross stuff, so for the first few months, I recommend a clip or pony tail or something along those lines.
Lots of warm sea salt soaks. Notice I said WARM, not hot, as hot will just increase the blood flow and therefore the swelling, and throbbing, and all the other horrible things.
Use provon, but use it sparingly, I found that if I used it more than once a day, or wasn't super careful to rinse it all off, the skin on the back of my ear would dry out, itch, and peal. This is not pleasant, so I ended up using it strictly in the shower after I had washer my hair, that way I could be sure to get it all off.
Stock up on anti inflammatories, you will need them.
Don't play with it! I know, its hard to resist, but an infection in your outer ear can be BAD, so trust me, its worth resisting.
Hope this helps more people than it scares. I just wanted to put something out there to give folks an idea of what to expect, as I was pretty blindsided by how badly it swelled the first few weeks.