Piercing Cartilage...

My first non lobe piercing was an upper ear cartilage piercing. It took me quite a while to work up the courage to have it done. I guess I was afraid of the pain, but since it was over 5 years ago, my memory has become a bit hazy. I think I was also worried about the urban myth I had heard that if a certain nerve was pierced in the ear, half of the face would be paralyzed. 5 years ago, the only place that did cartilage piercing was the local body piercing studio. Going there in the first place was a bit scary. I remember the first time I was there, another customer was in because he had swallowed a tongue ball. Eeek, I was shocked and a bit squicked (and boy have things changed). Anyway, I finally had the pierce done. For some reason, the piercers told me gold was not a good initial metal (but all successive ear pierces were done with gold, with no problems), so I my first jewelry was 18 gauge SSS CBR. I don't remember have any problems with the pierce, but again, it's been a while. After it healed, I replaced the SSS with gold.

A year later, I was at the mall with my sister and we saw that the jewelry stores now pierced cartilage as well. As a spur of the moment thing, we decided to get ours done. I had my second hole gunned above my first one with a gold stud. Unfortunately, this pierce never healed right. After a year of not being able to sleep my left side, I took the stud out.

3 years later, I learned enough about body piercing to understand what went wrong. Guns simply do not pierce cartilage correctly. They punch a hole only as big as the jewelry, instead of cleanly slicing a hole one gauge bigger than the initial jewelry. This technique gives room for the pierce to heal. Additionally, gun piercing can go very wrong and actually shattered the surrounding cartilage.

In April 1998, I went back to the body piercing studio and had my cartilage redone. The pierce was done through the original hole (scar). I'm actually not sure of the exact procedure, but it was something like this: A thin needle went through first, to make the hole (and allow the pierce to be straight). Then a mini-hole puncher needle (possibly a dermal) went through. This cut out a small, even circle of cartilage. It was a very painful pierce, but it is healing very well. I can already sleep on my left side with no discomfort. And again, I am only using anti-bacterial soap to heal.

Lesson learned: Cartilage piercings have a long healing period (anywhere from 3 months to a year) even when done properly. Don't trust the local mall to such a touchy area.

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