In February, I got the cartilage pierced in my left ear. Just in case someone was considering doing the same thing, I thought I'd give an update.
My ear was very sore for the first two weeks or so. I also had ringing in my ear, I'm guessing from the swelling. The swelling went down and my ear got much better, but I wasn't able to sleep on my left side until about two weeks ago. Even then, I have to shield my ear from the pillow with my hand. So, I thought my problem might be the earring post and back getting in the way, catching on my glasses, and generally keeping the area sore. Today I bought a nice sleek hoop that's small and makes a perfect smooth circle when it's closed. I figured it would be perfect.
I've had this piercing about 11 weeks now. The instructions said to keep the original earring in for 8-12 weeks, so I figured I was fine. It was kind of hard to get out because the earring back was "locked" on from the piercing gun. When I did get it off, my ear immediately swelled up. Great. I cleaned everything off really well, including the new earring, and started to put it in. But, the new earring is rounded, and the hole had swelled too much for me to easily put it in. At this point, I started to feel faint. :) I called Jon in to figure out what to do. After a few more attempts, we decided it was simply not time to put a new earring in, so back went the stud.
Maybe I'll try again in a few weeks. I do think the new ring would help keep it from getting knocked, which might be one reason it hasn't healed. On the other hand, I mentioned the soreness to a girl I bought the earring from today, and she said that could last up to a year! So maybe this is just normal.
It's not infected, and in almost every situation I don't even notice it, but I will be glad when it's healed. And I'll be glad when I can put the new earring in, because I like it.
So to all of you considering cartilage piercing, 3 months into it I like it, but I'm not sure it was worth it. I certainly wouldn't get another one. However, I do think I'll keep the one I have.
10 years ago
Funny you mentioned this, because I was looking at it on Saturday, as I had forgotten you had one. The thing I noticed was that you also had a few red vein lines, which I didn't remember from before. Please make sure your ear doesn't fall off. It worked for van Gogh, but really...not the look a 'lady' wants to go for! =)
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of the first time I changed my earrings out after my first piercing attempt in 1974. My ear had never healed, in fact had gotten gross looking. So out came the earring, the ear swelled up and I couldn't get another one in.Felt faint, called hubby for help. So, sigh, I reluctantly took out the other one and let them grow in. About ten years later, I got them pierced again, and this time everything went smoothly. I took better care of the holes, I think, and they healed up just fine.
ReplyDeleteYup, this sounds very reminiscent of my nose ring changing experience... especially the faint part and having hubby come to the rescue, oh and also the new ring not fitting business.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder if I would get my nose pierced again if for some reason this one accidentally closed up.
I had a friend who had to take hers out when her baby got hold enough to grab at it... ooooo, sparkly! I hope Ian doesn't try that, although I sometimes wonder if he's looking at it.