I had been thinking about getting my flats also known as outer conches punched for quite sometime. Several months back I started to look at experiences and pictures of people who've had this particular procedure done here on bme and on tribalectic and any other body modification website I could find. I had a few concerns but they passed pretty quickly.
At A Glance Author Mark Contact Mark@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Leo Ziebol Studio 5 Point Studios Location Johnston, Iowa USA
An online friend of mine was planning on coming down from Southern Minnesota on May the 13th with her boyfriend to go to my piercer Leo's studio in Central Iowa to get some microdermals on her chest area to replace her sternum piercing that had rejected out. So I figured I would travel the hour long trip up to my piercers shop to meet her in person for the first time. As well as get pierced with her since it was only a day after my birthday.
I was so excited the night of the 12th that I started to get ready for the next days events by shaving and showering. That night I didn't get much sleep so I was up way earlier than I normally am. So I went through my daily ritual with getting on the internet and taking my medications. As well as getting dressed, getting my teeth brushed and hair all fixed up. 12 noon hits and in the door comes my ride since I do not have a car of my own. So I finished getting ready and we head out the door to the gas station to get some go-go juice. Then we was on our way to the city for the fun day. We arrive in Johnston, Iowa and I decide that I need to get something quick to eat so I stop by McDonald's. My sister and I go in to use the restroom and then I ordered my food and tried to eat as much of the sandwich and fries as I could. Which didn't end up being that much because I was so excited and nervous. A few minutes later I got a text from my friend saying that she was at the shop so we pull out of the fast food restaurants parking lot and head up the road to the shop. I get in there and my piercer and my friend and her boyfriend were there to greet me.
We get all of the necessary paperwork filled out and pick out the jewelry that we liked. Our piercer put the jewelry in the autoclave to be sterilized which took a little awhile. After the several minute wait it was time for all of us to head into the piercing room for the fun. First up was my friend for her microdermals which didn't take horribly long but looked a bit painful. After she was all finished up with the pictures and the procedure it was my turn to hop up on the piercing table thing after he wiped it down with a cleaning solution. He set up the piercing tray with all the necessary tools. Then he began to clean the area and mark my flats and made sure they looked all even. He asked me to turn my head to the left and punched the right side with what I'm assuming was a 0 gauge dermal punch then put some pressure on the wound to slow down the bleeding and then stretched them up 1mm to 00 gauge and put on the clear pyrex glass single tunnels that I chose. He then cleaned up the blood and repeated the procedure on my left ear. I sat there for awhile and talked about the aftercare and other things. I then headed on out to pay and get my aftercare supplies which was provon antimicrobial soap and h2ocean salt spray. I said my goodbyes and see you laters and all of that and headed out the door for home. I stopped by wal-mart just before I got home to get some sterile gauze in case the wounds were to start bleeding and some orange juice the vitamin C in it helps to bleeding. Then I went home to take it easy for the rest of the night.
Here I am 48 hours later and the flats are doing great! I've been following the aftercare religiously so I hope they'll heal up without any problems. They're still swollen, a bit tender and a little bruised but that is to be expected with just about any piercing.
The pain really wasn't that bad it felt a bit like it did when I had my lobes scalpelled from 0 gauge to 9/16". I believe it was quite a bit less painful than the 18 gauge gunned upper ear piercings that I had done many years back in stores and shops that are not worth mentioning.
So I say if you are looking to get any large gauge cartilage piercing you should definitely do your research and find a piercer that is really good at what they do and go for it! I love my new holes and cannot wait for them the heal all up so I can get all sorts of nice jewelry to wear.