Conch Piercing
Conch-What???
The reaction to my announcement that I was going to have a conch piercing was normally met with “what the hell is a conch?” Hell, even I didn’t know until I got into piercing, about five years ago, so I will take time to tell you where and what it is, rather than steam in with the story and assume that you know what I’m talking about (”why the change of heart now Stu?” I can hear you say).
Okay, conch literally means shell (I know cos’ I looked in my dictionary) so a conch piercing is placed in the shell of the ear; in fact some studios just call it a shell piercing. For want of a better description of the location, the shell of the ear is the deepest part right next to your head, when you put your finger in your ear it tends to sit right where the piercing will go normally, (as ever I reserve the right to be wrong:-) moving on to jewellery options, you can have a labret stud (subtle), barbell or you can have a ball closure ring (err not quite as subtle, as the ring sits right around your ear) as ever the choice is yours, well I suppose in an ideal world it would be but some times you have to settle for the subtle option, but that’s of no relevance in this particular piece, as I’m lucky enough to be able to take the in-yer-face option with my piercings.
On a cold January morn I set of for the piercing studio.
While on the train I couldn’t help but think about the piercing because after all this particular piercing was all new, I had no bench mark by which to judge it and it felt like my first piercing all over again, but saying that I wouldn’t call it fear or worry just a sort of hyped up feeling, akin to drinking too much coffee.
The train journey takes about an hour, which passed a lot quicker due to a rather pretty brunette who had the most exquisite ass that I’ve seen in a long time (but hey that’s a story for another time; and maybe another Web site). After a quick bite to eat and a look around the shops for some unrelated stuff, I went on to the studio and while walking down the road I noticed how rough the sea looked (alright I’m only trying to insert some ambience, damn you!) inside, I was lucky enough to be the only one there, then about four people followed me in!
My poor Brain:)
I was greeted by the lovely Rose, who took my piercing details and gave me the mandatory form to fill in, two minutes later I was going down the stairs towards the blue room, followed by Dom (the piercer), after handing over my copy of ‘The color and the shape’ by The Foo Fighters which I have to say is a great album, we got on with the procedure.
I was also having my other nipple pierced, you can read about that at nipple take 2 here I focus on the conch so as to keep things simple, I was asked if I wanted anaesthetic, unusually I said “I feel that I need it for this particular piercing” then I removed my fleece and T-shirt and Dom marked up all the piercings and cleaned the surrounding area’s and asked me to verify these were okay, all was well, so as instructed I lay on my side and I felt some paper go in my ear (so as to stop anything going in my ear) then the anaesthetic, which was cold and fizzed like a… Fizzy thing, then to be totally honest I didn’t feel a thing, so next time I’ll refuse the anaesthetic, as I have with my other piercings (except the P.A.) at least it gives me more to write about:-)
My only worry was the piercing bleeding on the way home, fortunately that was not the case and so far the piercing has been well behaved and there is only a slight sensation.
Pain in the . . .
Until the fourth day that is, when all hell broke loose and the “slight sensation” turned into something a little more err… Interesting lets say. I would say it was a cross between a toothache and an ear infection, the whole side of my face throbbed like a pneumatic drill, fortunately I had something a little stronger than Paracetamol or Asprin in the medicine cupboard (Yes it was legal, bloody cheek!).
Sleeping was a total bitch, basically I couldn’t! Sounds bad doesn’t it? Well fortunately the pain gradually dissipated and after three days all was back to normal, so please don’t let this put you of a cartilage piercing, I would certainly do it all again, and am going to, with a scaffold pending. Everyone keeps complementing the conch (even those not into piercing) which makes it even better, and I am really pleased with the way it looks, so all in all well worth it!
Tags: Conch Piercing