I'm asian. I have very strict and traditional asian parents. They let me get my lobes done when I was 15, and that was it. A few months later, cartilage piercings were all the rage at school, and I wanted one. Of course, my parents said no. I kept begging and begging, but the answer was no, no, and no. I decided that when I turned 18, I would get it done. That was in three years. After waiting maybe half a year, I couldn't wait any more and decided to do it myself. I took a piercing earring from claire's and just stuck it through my ear. I remember it was about 1 am on new year's eve- I had stuck it through (happy new year!!) and wasˇ§ow"-ing silently in my room. I left the earring in that night and the next morning replaced it with a silver hoop. I kept this in for about 3 incredibly infected months. My mom saw it when I tucked my hair behind my ear one day and I had to take it out.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When N/A Fast forward to last year- I was 18. Finally. Sweet 18. Piercing freedom. My friends and I decided to get friendship piercings together at the mall. I decided that this was the chance to get my cartilage re-done. Everyone got lobe piercings, and I got my cartilage for the second time. Getting cartilage piercings with a gun- getting ANY piercing with a gun = not smart. I knew it, but I didn't care. I got it done anyway. It hurt considerably less than when I did it myself, but hurt is hurt. Though I do enjoy the burning feeling after getting a gun piercing.
A few months later, I healed fine- or so I thought. I decided that it was okay to stop cleaning it and it got infected in to time. I took care of it and babied it all I could. In the end, I couldn't do it. The infection grew again and there was no way I could keep it in. Oh well, I tried, right? I let it heal over and was determined to get it done again. Yes. AGAIN. Once it was fully healed, I had two lumps behind my ear- once from the first try and once from the second. Battle scars, I call them.
This year, I'm 19, and I have tried the third time. I went to a piercing place (yep. Progress from the most primitive method of piercing. It's like the evolution of man.) and paid my $40 dollars. I had a clamp on my ear, was asked to take a deep breath in and out, and the needle was shoved through. OkayˇKˇK. OWWWWW. WHAT? OW. OW. It hurt SO BAD. It didn't even hurt that bad when I did it myself WITH AN EARRING. Maybe it was because the piercer had to pierce through scar tissue, but when I look at the back of my ear, the piercing doesn't go through any of the lumps that formed from my previous tries. It was the most painful piercing experience ever. Even now, when I have a lot more things pierced than just my ears, but that's a story for another day. Afterwards, it bled for a week straight and hurt like a mother. I took care of it the best I could with sea salt and rubbing alcohol (I'm so stuck on the rubbing alcohol- it's what my doctor told me to use for my other ear piercings. Old habits are hard to break) and it was healing up nice and easy. I had myself a pretty cartilage piercing now!
After about 8 months, I had stopped cleaning it for about two weeks because I went on vacation. I came back and had a monster of an infection. It looked like hypertrophic scarring/slight keloid-ing, according to one of my friends. I freaked out and started cleaning it again, but the lump wouldn't go away. After about two weeks, I ran back to the piercer and asked him to look at it. He told me to use hot salt-water soaks three times a day. After about three weeks, it went down to about 1/3 it's original size. I was so relieved. After about a month and a week, I realized it wasn't going to get any smaller than that, so now I'm stuck with a lump. Great.
Now I'm debating whether to keep it or to take it out and have it done for the 4th time, since the third time was a failed attempt as well. So much for a professionally done piercing. I'm currently leaning towards keeping it, since it's not too bad, and I've had it for so long it's GOT to heal sometime soon. We'll see. Only time will tellˇK