So here is my self-pierced rook story. Please do not take this as instructions for how to pierce a rook. It may have come out nice, but it's not safe. So yeah, I am not that good of a writer so just stay with me here.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A week ago Artist myself Studio bathroom studio When I was fifteen, my Mom decided for me that it was time to get my lobes pierced. Against what everyone told me, my lobes really killed and swelled up like a balloon the next day. They are all healed now but that is the last time I am going to go to a piercing stand in the mall. As soon as I got those done, I fell in love with them and wanted to get my cartilage pierced. So my sister-in-law did it for me with the consent of my parents. After that, they said no more piercings ever. Yeah, like that would happen. Then, I pierced my own tragus which came out perfect(really cute piercing!)and my other cartilage twice. They haven't found out yet(don't lie to your parents, it's dumb). I am always known as the girl with the unique piercings in school. Yet again, There is only like 800 people in my school. So I am officially hooked on piercings! I plan on getting my naval, and my second holes done. I won't get them done until after I graduate though. My parents would have a heart attack. Maybe an anti-tragus piercing too. I was considering doing that myself though.
Back to the story. I really wanted my rook pierced because absolutely no one in my school has it done and it would be unique. My parents would also never let me get it done. After doing like a ton of research on BMEzine, I officially decided to go with the rook piercing. I thought about the daith, but it's too hidden for my liking. My mom is a nurse so she had a bunch of needles in a medical case and I stole one. I took the needle out to see how sharp it was and it cut my finger open. That would definitely do. So I let it soak in anti-bacterial soap for two hours while I cleaned the bathroom area and the stud I was about to use. I then got some ice and iced it for 10 minutes cause it's a very hard piece of cartilage. It would take a while.
Most people say they don't use ice, but trust me, you want ice for this piercing! So as soon as I thought I was ready and marked my entrance point(can't mark an endpoint cause you can't see)and pushed the needle through the first layer. I could here it pop, but it didn't hurt. I then pushed a little harder and pushed it through like 5 layers and could hear each one pop. The ice then wore off so my ear was throbbing like crazy. I decided to take it out and wait another day to let it heal up.
So I tried the next day and used the same starting point and pushed it through again. This time, it was way too close to the edge of my ear and I was afraid it might rip out. As usual, I waited 2 more nights because my ear was really swelled up. This was really dumb on my part. It could have easily gotten infected of deformed from me piercing it so many times. There is still a small scar from previous attempts on my rook.
So on my final attempt, I just took the needle and pushed it through. I got the stud in to find out I couldn't find the exit. I was so determined to get this piercing that I just pierced the stud through and it came out the other side of my rook to my surprise. So I put the end on and cleaned it up.
Overall, the piercing looks really nice. It hurt like crazy for the first few days cause it's a thick piece of cartilage, but after that, I got a ton of compliments on it. People said they had never seen that piercing and that it looks really cool. My parents also haven't found out yet and that was pretty stupid on my part for waiting to tell them. I am still trying to figure out how to break it to them.
I probably wouldn't suggest piercing yourself unless you really know what you are doing. If you do, make sure everything is sanitized. For my tragus and cartilage piercing, I just stuck a needle through them and somehow, they never got infected. In the case of my rook, I was not that experienced so I am lucky that it came out fine. Now, I have pierce a bunch of my friends' cartilage's. I don't do anything else though. It would really not like to get sued.
And that's my self-pierced rook!
Email me if you have any questions!