Hi! I am a 15 year old male and I am from County Cork in Ireland. This is the amazing and wonderful story of how I managed to get a 1.6mm (14g) inner conch in my left ear.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Carol Studio Tattoo Zoo Location Cork, Ireland At the time my piercings included an eyebrow, vertical labret, lobe and tongue. And a small tattoo on the back of my left leg. My vertical labret was starting to migrate and it was really shallow so to cheer myself up I decided to get a cartilage piercing.
I had a tragus piercing before but it was pierced by a really crap piercer and it only lasted two weeks.
On a wet, rainy day I went into Tattoo Zoo with my mother. She did not mind that I was getting a piercing since I was planning on retiring my vertical labret soon. She was delighted about that.
So we go up to the counter and the guy there (who has really cool piercings) asked me to fill out a consent form with some personal details of mine.
I filled it in and my mother signed it, not even bothering to read it. She did not even know what a conch piercing was, and to be honest she really did not care as long as it was not on my face or stretched. And I did not even bother explaining it to her. I just told her it was an ear piercing so she was perfectly fine with it.
I am told I have to wait about fifteen minutes. How Great. I am not really that nervous I just want to get it all over and done with.
About ten minutes later Carol calls me back into the little piercing room. It is really clean and it eases your nerves. I am instructed to lie down and relax myself while she looks for corks.
We have a really nice chat about piercings in general and she tells me that my vertical labret is migrating. She also explains that a conch is a really cool piercing!
I felt very comfortable around her and I feel lucky that I got pierced by her.
She tells me that I have an "extra ridge" or something so she marks up my conch and asks me to look in the mirror. Its a fairly standard placement which does not bother me at all.
I am also really easily able to listen to my iPod without it hurting or irritating my conch piercing which is a really good thing.
I lie back down again and "breath in"...*pierce..."breath out"...insert jewellery..."breath out"...
She inserted a 1.6mmx8mm bar (I think) which is the same as 14g 5/16".
It did not hurt at all, much less painless than all my other piercings!
I walk out and show my mum in the waiting room. She just says "oh right, was it sore?" I reply no and she pays the fella at the counter forty euro.
We walk out and I just want to get back to the car to look at it.
That day I go to town to my friends. Some think its absolutely the coolest thing they have ever seen while others think its disgusting. Hehe =]
Aftercare was also easy enough. I did sea salt soaks twice a day (once in the morning and once at night before I went to bed) for the first two weeks of my conchie's life and then I turned to the LITHA (Leave It The Hell Alone) method for 3 weeks, which worked amazingly well. Now im back to sea salt soaks again as I am afraid that it will get infected. I am very paranoid about infection.
I also massage me whole ear with Emu oil every night (I purchased it off Body Art Forms) and it has worked wonders. I will never get pierced again unless I have emu oil. It really is a godsend.
I have yet to change the jewellery or even the balls.
My conch has been a very well healing piercing. It is now about 6 weeks old. I suggest a conch piercing to those who want a painless and easy healing cartilage piercing. I also strongly suggest Tattoo Zoo. I will definitly be returning there in the future.
I wonder what school will think of it!
If you are considering an inner conch piercing, which you probably are, or else you would not be reading this, you should keep the following things in mind:
* You might not be able to listen to head phones.
* Do not answer the mobile phone with your pierced ear.
* You will not be able to sleep on it for a while.
* Get it pierced with a barbell for easier healing and cleaning.
Happy Piercing and Good Luck!
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