So, I've been itchin' to get a new addition to my face for a while, and a week or two ago I finally came about some money to make things happen. I had been bouncing around a few ideas in my head for a long time, but there wasn't a certain one that struck my fancy any more than the rest of them until I took notice of a co-workers conch piercing. He had his dermal punched at a 4 gauge with a plug in it. I really liked the way it looked and thought it was something worth looking into. I've always liked the way that hoops looked in the conch and thought that a large gauge hoop would be even cooler. So... I asked Josh what the deal was with his ear and, being the smarty that he is, he proceeded to tell me everything I needed to know about dermal punching (which included the fact that they heal better and are cleaner than a large gauge needle piercing). This fact was important to me because I had an industrial done a few years ago and the little bugga never wanted to heal co rrectly on the bottom part and I was forced to take it out and I now have a lumpy ear. Anyways...
At A Glance Author CowboyBlingBling Contact CowboyBlingBling@bme.anon When A week ago Location East Lansing, MI
So I called up the local piercing shop and asked my friend who works there what I needed to do to set up an appointment with their senior piercer and what the cost would be. Since I have never had a dermal punch done, I figured it would cost more money since it sounded scarier, but to my surprise he told me that he charges the same price for punching as he did for standard piercing. He also told me that it wasn't something that he likes to advertise that he does and to try to keep it on the hush, hence the lack of naming him or the studio. I'm sure he wouldn't care since I'm writing it on BME but I didn't get to ask him and I'd rather not piss him off . If you live in the area you already know the place anyways. I was actually kinda taken off guard by the secrecy because I didn't know what he meant, then I realized it must be illegal or looked down upon by some people in someplace... But that didn't matter much to me as long as he was going to do it for me. One problem t hough, he was leaving in 15 minutes and was not going to be back to work until Monday. Frown. Now I have to wait anxiously all weekend, drats. I did make an appointment for Monday at noon however, so now it was as good as done; because you can't back out of an appointment, right?
So I showed up at noon and filled out all the paper work stuff and chatted to my friend working there. She told me that he would use a 6g barbell (as opposed to a plug) so that there was ample room for swelling and cleaning. It ended up being just the barbell shaft with O-rings on the ends so that their wouldn't have to be a big-o-ball in my ear. That was fine with me and my friend gave me some purple O-rings to match my brand spankin' new Kaos squishy plugs. So... In the little room I went. I must say here that the studio I went to is extreeeemely professional and they are super dooper "by the book" in all their procedures and practices. This is the reason that I go to them time and again because they have always been professional and knowledgeable about everything and that puts me at ease. They do charge more but I figured an extra couple of bucks is better than a deformed ear or worse.
So I'm in the room with the piercer and another piercer that works there whom wanted to watch. He told me about the procedure and explained it was pretty much just like a normal cartilage piercing but it would end up being a lot "cleaner" of a hole because it removes a chunk of flesh instead of just cutting it or "flattening" it. Then he made a mark and I ended up not liking it, but a few marks later we landed on a spot that was both feasible and to my liking. Then I was told to lie down and prepare myself. I must say that I was a little nervous since I had never had a punch done before. I had been told it's really painful and that it would hurt quite a lot; but I've gone through broken bones and surgery before so I knew that I could handle a little hole in my ear... I hoped. Anyways... He explained that it would feel similar to my industrial, just a lot more pressure. And then the breathing. In. Out. OUCH. Done. I was very surprised that it didn't hurt nearly as m uch as I had built myself up to expect. It hurt quite a bit more than my industrial had for about 5 or 6 seconds and then was gone. Actually, the most painful part of the whole piercing was when he was putting the O-rings on. I had just stretched my upper ear cartilage to an 8 gauge the night before (I'm smrat, huh?) and he kept moving it out of the way and pushing on it. Soon my entire ear started to throb like mad, but I didn't care. I just had my first dermal punch!
I paid and then went on my way. I actually had this done right before I was scheduled to work (another smrat move) so I had and eight hour shift of hot, throbby ear fun ahead of me. One thing that differed greatly with the punch as opposed to my industrial was that it throbbed and hurt a lot for 5 or 6 hours afterwards. There was a small amount of bleeding the first day (until a girl I was hanging out with that night elbowed me in the ear; then their was a lot of bleeding) and even less on the second day. Fast forward two weeks later, and it is still a little sore. No more bleeding and the crusty stuff is very minimal, although I still have to clean it to be able to move it around. This thing healed so great! Sea salt once a day and lots of Q-Tips! I highly recommend dermal punching with larger gauge cartilage piercing!