I've wanted to get a piercing for years. When I was in middle school it was an eyebrow bar I wanted more than anything, and in high school it was a lip ring I wanted. This past summer I decided it was time to get a piercing, I was 19 and had enough cash around to finally get something done.
At A Glance Author Drew Contact Drew@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist cannot remember her name Studio Lark Vegas Location Albany, NY I spent a while on sites like BME and bodyjewelleryshop.com trying to learn everything about piercings. I tend to get wrapped up in things like this, and pretty quickly I was scanning BME image pages and reading every piercing care information page I could. I knew I wanted an ear piercing (I didn't want something too dramatic for a first pierce) and had been set on a standard upper helix piercing. After looking at more and more pictures though, Conch piercings started looking really appealing. They were different, and as a single piercing, they had a way of looking totally balanced and natural. A conch it was, left ear.
There are a few piercing shops in Albany, but the most reputable is Lark Vegas. I had already gotten my tattoo in their adjoined tattoo shop, and found the place safe and clean, and the staff knowledgable and friendly. The prices there were quite steep, the conch piercing (with jewelry) was $55. I've always said though that piercing (and any body mod for that matter) are worth the cost if done right. I plan on keeping by piercing around for a while, so the price is a small matter as long as I love it.
I decided pretty spur of the moment one night (around 5 pm) with some friends that it was the day to go get it done. The woman working the register was friendly, and we chatted for a bit about what I wanted to get done. She said, unfortunately, that the person who could do a conch pierce wasn't around that day. However, my luck changed when the piercing woman working walked out from the back and said she could do it, no problem. We decided to go with a 10mm 14 ga straight barbell, and she went to the back to sterilize and prepare. After a few minutes I spent battling the butterflies in my stomach, she called me back (I brought my girlfriend with me). I told her where I wanted it, she checked quickly for veins and marked me up. The first spot she labeled was perfect and we were ready to go. She clamped me, which was a lot more painful than I expected. I didn't realize that she would be putting an elastic band around the clamp to hold it tight, and it pretty much flattened the outer ridge of my cartilage. I'd been mentally prepping for pain anyway though, so I didn't complain. Finally she was ready to pierce. She lubed the needle up with some surgical lubricant and told me to take a deep breath. before I knew it, I heard a pop right next to my ear, and felt a sharp pain that made wince a little bit. I could feel some blood dripping down my ear but I didn't care, I was grinning and proud. She warned that putting the bar in may hurt more than the piercing itself, but I didn't feel a thing. After screwing the ball on tight and wiping the area clean she announced that I was done. My whole ear was throbbing, but once I looked in the mirror I couldn't care less. The placement was perfect and it looked like a perfect straight shot through.
The piercer and I continued to chat for a while, I asked her about her piercings (which were numerous) and her conch had healed. After at least 2 minutes though, I felt a big stream of blood run down the edge of my ear and drip onto my neck. The piercer ran over to help me wipe it off but before long I realized I felt pretty off. All of a sudden my ears were ringing and my vision started getting fuzzy. I told her that I thought I was going to black out, and then apparently I went right out. I woke up laying on the table I had been sitting on being told that I should put my legs up and bend my knees. The piercer was so kind and really patient. She said that it happens to a lot of people, told me that the bleeding had stopped and to take as long as I felt I needed to before getting up. She brought me a bottle of vitamin water from their employee fridge and after a couple minutes I got up feeling much better.
My only complaint is that when I went to pay, the woman at the register (not the one who pierced me) convinced me to buy a 5 dollar bottle of benzalkonium peroxide, telling me it was an excellent cleaning option. After having a nasty skin reaction to using the benzalkonium, i have since switched to good old hot saltwater. I said thanked the employees, said goodbye and went home.
My ear was pretty sore for a couple of days, and for at least a couple of weeks any tap on the bar was very painful. It was been months now and I couldn't be happier. I had to change the bar to a shorter one after about a month, the 10mm was just too easy to hit in the shower etc. I absolutely recommend Lark vegas to anyone, their piercing staff was helpful and skilled. Don't buy the cheap cleaning solution though. They sell H2Ocean there as well, which is definitely the better choice.
Now the only problem is that I can't decide what piercing to get next!