I woke up one day with a sudden urge to get a new piercing, and to feel that oh so familiar adrenalin rush that comes with the added bonus of an aesthetically pleasing new modification.
At A Glance Author melonoma Contact melonoma@bme.anon When A week ago Studio The Piercing Shop Location Brisbane, Australia I jumped onto my computer and started researching more piercings on bme and suggested a few to my Mum who vetoed all of them. Determined to find a piercing that both my Mum and I liked I came across the snug piercing. Cute, not too attention grabbing and not on my face so I was given approval.
I called up The Piercing Shop and made the appointment. I did not have to research the piercing studio at all as I have had at least 6 other piercings done there before so I knew they were clean, friendly and professional.
Part of the terms and conditions of getting a new piercing while living under the same roof as my Mum involved taking out my two helix piercings. Fortunately for me I'd had the piercings for over two years and have managed to keep them open and can sneak in the jewellery when she's not around.
The day I was due to get my piercing I woke up early and excited as a little girl on Christmas. I bounded out of bed, caught a bus and went straight into the studio.
Angie (one of the resident piercers) suggested I use a 10-12 titanium banana bar in my ear to compensate for all the swelling that was to come. I'd heard the whole "Ice it religiously because it will swell." spiel before but little did I know how much it would actually increase in size.
I was told that the piercing is incredibly hard to heal because it's through such a large part of cartilage and requires a lot of attention and time. But Angie also told me that because I'd been so good healing my other piercings I should have no problem with it at all.
Half an hour later I was called into the room by my normal piercer after my jewellery had been sterilized in the autoclave. We had a bit of a chat, she cleaned and marked my ear. I decided to go up as high as the size of the bar would allow me to go. She went and got the needle ready, and came back with the dreaded clamps. She told me that the clamps would be the worst part as they had to hold it incredibly tight as the cartilage is so thick. The clamps clicked twice and my ear was already starting to throb.
1... 2... and we're through. I had barely noticed the pain, but I could feel the needle going through my ear. None of that cartilage-pop noise that you hear about either.
She pulled the banana bar through my ear, cleaned up the miniscule amount of blood left, and I was off with my beautiful new piercing!
It looked gorgeous. I could not have been happier with it at all.
The next morning I woke up and my ear was hurting something chronic. It kept throbbing and felt really hot. I'd had a rather big night the night before and assumed I'd done something stupid and damaged it. I looked in the mirror and lo and behold it had swollen. I did not believe Angie when she told me, but it really did swell, and it was the most painful thing I have ever been through.
I normally have an incredibly high pain threshold and withstand any amount of pain, but the throbbing was really starting to get to me, so I downed a few paracetemol, washed it with the tea-tree wash I was given and started icing it every two hours to take down the swelling.
Five days later and it is still killing me. I really should start believing people when they tell me what's best. I am sure in a week or so it should start settling down and I will get over the pain. But until then I will keep up with my salt soaks, tree-tea oil washes and ice.
My piercing has matched right in with the rest of my piercings too. I've got the same coloured gems on my snug bar as I have on my tragus ring (dark purple) and then I purchased some dark purple coloured gems for my the rest of my ear piercings on that ear so it all looks even. I have had a few comments from customers at the store I work at, and a few looks of disgust but, hey, people like that just do not understand it.
I'd recommend this piercing to people that have patience and can put up with pain! The actual piercing is not the slightest bit painful but the healing process is something that you need to stick to and have a lot of time for.
It is a beautiful piercing, and I recommend it for people that just want something a little different.