So at the beginning of the school year I finally convinced my parents to let me get my lobes pierced again. I promised them it was a one-time thing, and the only reason I was getting them was because they look cool, and they could compliment the earrings in my first holes. Right. After the piercing, I found myself looking around for new piercings to get. In January, I got my industrial. A month later, I decided I needed to get something else done.
At A Glance Author schnev When A month ago Artist Jason Studio Primitive Impressions Location Rochester, NY Getting my conch pierced wasn't a spontaneous decision. My friend and I planned out my ears – what I want, what I'm going to get done, when, etc. A CBR conch was next in line.
Another one of my friends, who shares my love for piercings, decided that we should go during school break in February, since we could go on a weekday, and their would be few if any people there. I called up the place where we go, Primitive Impressions, and scheduled an appointment with Jason. Jason's definitely the best in town. I'd never gone anywhere else aside from him, but what I've heard about others doesn't really want to make me explore.
Friday we came into the parlor. As predicted, there was nobody there except Jason. He'd put us both down for cartilages, so we explained to him that my friend wanted a standard cartilage, and I wanted a conch with a CBR. He fitted us for jewelry, talking and joking the entire time, getting us to relax, then we headed into the back room.
He pierced my friend first. She was done. My turn. I wasn't nervous at all, even though I'd heard awful things about the conch piercing, hurting, bleeding, etc. Jason has a way of making everyone relax. I've never heard anyone say anything bad about him.
I hopped up into the chair. When he put some paper towel on my shoulder, I got a little concerned, so he explained it was in case my ear bled, but he said it shouldn't be too bad. I took a deep breath, nodded, and we kept talking while he cleaned everything. Now, one of my main concerns with piercings is that everything's sterilized, but watching Jason clean everything always makes me calm down.
A few minutes later he put the earring back on my ear to see where I wanted it positioned exactly, but he got it perfect. I told him I wanted a snug above the conch, but he said my snugs were hollow, and I couldn't get it done. It was upsetting, but he recommended I should try a second conch instead, so he showed me what it would look like and it was gorgeous! I'm always amazed how he knows what looks good on everyone.
Next thing I knew, the hole was marked, and he was telling me to take a deep breath in. He counted to three and pressed the needle up against my ear. Now, I'd heard it was going to hurt a lot, but I really didn't think it was that bad. It took him a while to get the needle through all the way, but it actually barely hurt. My cartilage made a funny noise. It didn't pop like the industrial, but it was this odd squeaking noise like wet rubber rubbing against something hard. After that, he slid the earring in, and I was done!
I jumped off the chair and thanked Jason. I think he got a little confused at my reaction to the procedure, or lack thereof. He began to ask me if I was feeling ok, any pain, anything. I didn't feel anything, and I told him that. I got a strange look in response. Apparently my response wasn't the one he was used to getting.
It started stinging a bit about ten minutes later, so I popped some Advil, and the pain went away. For the next week, it was absolutely fine, healing perfectly, everything. The swelling went up a lot, so it looked like my ear was flat, but toward the end of the first week it started going down. The entire shell of my ear was purple. I was happy.
I was happy, that is, until my idiot friend decided to put his coat on my head the next week. I wanted to murder him it hurt so much. He wound up ripping the top of it a little. It didn't bleed until the next morning, and my ear had puffed back up again. It began lymphing a lot, which it hadn't done as much before. I had giant crusts all around, but I kept cleaning it carefully.
I'm still struggling with my conch after my friend ripped it. It's been lymphing a lot less, and I can turn the CBR freely now, which I've been refraining from doing in case of an infection. A big, red bubble has formed slightly to the right of it, which makes me suspect that it got infected anyway, probably from his coat. It's not going down, but it's not getting worse either. My friend says it's just swelling, which it may be because my ear isn't actively pussing or anything. It may also be a keloid. I really hope it's not, though.
Basically, now I need to head back to Primitive to talk to Jason, and maybe he can help figure out what it is. I also need to get in the habit of doing sea salt soaks, which I've read are supposed to be done with a cotton ball for a conch piercing.
The point is, conches aren't that bad if you have soft cartilage like I do, or a large tolerance for pain. They're really annoying to heal, though, especially when they get ripped. If you're going to get one done, I can't guarantee it won't hurt, but watch out for other people hitting it.