the Industrial Experience
.....and i came home today with a really cool lil barbell in one ear!
the bar is actually at more of a vertical angle than in the photo because i was looking down. the arm of my glasses should be horizontal.
and now to regurgitate the experience before i forget stuff.
before going to my 1pm appointment at The Piercing Shop, i (once again) read up on other people's experiences and tips re: industrial piercings at http://forums.bodyartforms.com/ . thanks to info from there, i decided that i'd get some ibuprofen (Nurofen) from a drugstore and would take it just before going to the shop to help with the pain and inflammation/swelling. i ended up taking the pills only 15 mins before the piercing, though, and the pills aren't for targeted pain relief anyway, so i don't know if they lessened the immediate pain from being pierced at all.
Lynette, the person i'd spoken with previously and who i'd requested do the piercing, was very quick and professional about getting it done. i came to the appointment with a couple of new questions and concerns due to reading a million horror stories online, but she assured me that i needn't worry about any of that stuff and she was completely right. in fact, now i feel bad for having even brought up those things (all things that concerned the piercer doing it right) to her seeing as she's so good at what she does. in fact, that's why i'd specifically requested that she do my piercing because i know that she knows her stuff and has decades of experience under her belt, but i lost sight of that because of noobs on the internet. >:[ *kicks self*
anyway, after addressing my concerns, she marked my ear and held up the barbell to the marks, giving me a mirror so that i could see and approve the placement. she ended up working out the placement in such a way that made the bar fit perfectly, despite concerns during our last meeting that my ear layout didn't leave much room for a long bar. thank god for her placement skillz because i had my heart set on the barbell that i'd picked out and if it hadn't fit i would have been heartbroken. ;(
when it came to the actual piercing, i tried my best to keep calm and i think i did pretty well....! she used two needles, one for each piercing, and she did the top one (the one closest to my head) first... and it did hurt, but not unbearably so. maybe a 6 on a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being the highest. the worst part, for me, was actually hearing my cartilage "crunch".... it was faint, but audible and a bit unnerving. once the needle was through, which only took a second, the pain immediately died down. she left the first needle in my ear and then went on to the second (lower) piercing, which i think hurt about the same, maybe a tad less. it felt a bit different, though, because the cartilage there was softer and gave under the pressure more, i guess. again, the needle was left in my ear, this time while she got the barbell ready. putting the barbell in hurt less than the actual piercing, but it did hurt quite a bit and for longer than the second it took for piercing. i held my breath and clenched my jaw and hands while she did that. ^^;
when everything was done i was handed the mirror and WOW was my poor ear on fire and majorly swollen. i totally hadn't expected my ear to swell up like that, don't ask me why. but then i looked at the shiny, new barbell in my ear and it was f'in awesome. 8) i was still kind of like "whoah" with a million thoughts going through my mind when she asked me how i liked it, so sadly i didn't give her as overjoyed a response as i wish i had. she gave me an ice pack to help with the swelling and aftercare information, i gave her $79 and away i went through Brisbane CBD with an ice pack on my ear lol.
this is what my ear looked like less than 30 mins after the piercing. this is an improvement from how it had originally been.
immediately after the piercing it literally felt like my ear was on fire-- like if i held my hand an inch away from it i would feel strong heat radiating from it, but with the help of the ice pack and probably ibuprofen, the swelling and inflammation went down significantly and within 2hrs i was home baking banana nut bread without an ice pack on my ear at all. :) it's now 8 hours later, the ibuprofen has worn off and i have yet to take more. my ear isn't throbbing or overly painful, but there is the ever present feeling of dull pain that constantly reminds me not to touch my ear. actually, i had been thinking about taking some ibuprofen before bed, but now i'm thinking that maybe it would be best if the dull pain remained during the night. maybe it will help insure i dont sleep on the ear? lucky for me, i'm pretty good at spending the night sleeping in only one position. the question is, will i be able to sleep in the same position for a month? hmmm...
thanks to research, i know that cartilage piercings are very finicky and take 6 ~ 12 months to heal and that industrials are even harder to heal because it's two cartilage piercings linked together. if one piercing gets bumped, it effects the other as well. plus, cartilage piercings (esp. industrials) are highly prone to hypertrophic scarring, which apparently i am bound to suffer on and off from for at least the next year.
what a painful fun year i have to look forward to....!
on a random note, i'm thinking about stretching my lobes up to 12g in a week or two, depending on how they feel.
*throws in another pic for the record*
edit: also want to note that a few days before the piercing i started taking multi-vitamins and drinking lots of orange juice because i hear that that helps boost the healing process. :x
the bar is actually at more of a vertical angle than in the photo because i was looking down. the arm of my glasses should be horizontal.
and now to regurgitate the experience before i forget stuff.
before going to my 1pm appointment at The Piercing Shop, i (once again) read up on other people's experiences and tips re: industrial piercings at http://forums.bodyartforms.com/ . thanks to info from there, i decided that i'd get some ibuprofen (Nurofen) from a drugstore and would take it just before going to the shop to help with the pain and inflammation/swelling. i ended up taking the pills only 15 mins before the piercing, though, and the pills aren't for targeted pain relief anyway, so i don't know if they lessened the immediate pain from being pierced at all.
Lynette, the person i'd spoken with previously and who i'd requested do the piercing, was very quick and professional about getting it done. i came to the appointment with a couple of new questions and concerns due to reading a million horror stories online, but she assured me that i needn't worry about any of that stuff and she was completely right. in fact, now i feel bad for having even brought up those things (all things that concerned the piercer doing it right) to her seeing as she's so good at what she does. in fact, that's why i'd specifically requested that she do my piercing because i know that she knows her stuff and has decades of experience under her belt, but i lost sight of that because of noobs on the internet. >:[ *kicks self*
anyway, after addressing my concerns, she marked my ear and held up the barbell to the marks, giving me a mirror so that i could see and approve the placement. she ended up working out the placement in such a way that made the bar fit perfectly, despite concerns during our last meeting that my ear layout didn't leave much room for a long bar. thank god for her placement skillz because i had my heart set on the barbell that i'd picked out and if it hadn't fit i would have been heartbroken. ;(
when it came to the actual piercing, i tried my best to keep calm and i think i did pretty well....! she used two needles, one for each piercing, and she did the top one (the one closest to my head) first... and it did hurt, but not unbearably so. maybe a 6 on a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being the highest. the worst part, for me, was actually hearing my cartilage "crunch".... it was faint, but audible and a bit unnerving. once the needle was through, which only took a second, the pain immediately died down. she left the first needle in my ear and then went on to the second (lower) piercing, which i think hurt about the same, maybe a tad less. it felt a bit different, though, because the cartilage there was softer and gave under the pressure more, i guess. again, the needle was left in my ear, this time while she got the barbell ready. putting the barbell in hurt less than the actual piercing, but it did hurt quite a bit and for longer than the second it took for piercing. i held my breath and clenched my jaw and hands while she did that. ^^;
when everything was done i was handed the mirror and WOW was my poor ear on fire and majorly swollen. i totally hadn't expected my ear to swell up like that, don't ask me why. but then i looked at the shiny, new barbell in my ear and it was f'in awesome. 8) i was still kind of like "whoah" with a million thoughts going through my mind when she asked me how i liked it, so sadly i didn't give her as overjoyed a response as i wish i had. she gave me an ice pack to help with the swelling and aftercare information, i gave her $79 and away i went through Brisbane CBD with an ice pack on my ear lol.
this is what my ear looked like less than 30 mins after the piercing. this is an improvement from how it had originally been.
immediately after the piercing it literally felt like my ear was on fire-- like if i held my hand an inch away from it i would feel strong heat radiating from it, but with the help of the ice pack and probably ibuprofen, the swelling and inflammation went down significantly and within 2hrs i was home baking banana nut bread without an ice pack on my ear at all. :) it's now 8 hours later, the ibuprofen has worn off and i have yet to take more. my ear isn't throbbing or overly painful, but there is the ever present feeling of dull pain that constantly reminds me not to touch my ear. actually, i had been thinking about taking some ibuprofen before bed, but now i'm thinking that maybe it would be best if the dull pain remained during the night. maybe it will help insure i dont sleep on the ear? lucky for me, i'm pretty good at spending the night sleeping in only one position. the question is, will i be able to sleep in the same position for a month? hmmm...
thanks to research, i know that cartilage piercings are very finicky and take 6 ~ 12 months to heal and that industrials are even harder to heal because it's two cartilage piercings linked together. if one piercing gets bumped, it effects the other as well. plus, cartilage piercings (esp. industrials) are highly prone to hypertrophic scarring, which apparently i am bound to suffer on and off from for at least the next year.
what a painful fun year i have to look forward to....!
on a random note, i'm thinking about stretching my lobes up to 12g in a week or two, depending on how they feel.
*throws in another pic for the record*
edit: also want to note that a few days before the piercing i started taking multi-vitamins and drinking lots of orange juice because i hear that that helps boost the healing process. :x