spiral earring

Last year I got a new tattoo. At the place I went to get it they also do piercings. I was looking through a book of pictures and decided that I really liked how the spiral earring looked in the top of the ear. I wanted to get it.

It took a while for me to actually follow through and get my ear pierced, but I did it a few months ago. The process for getting a spiral put in requires getting the ear pierced three times through the cartilage in the top of the ear with a hollow core needle. Then you have to wear earrings in the holes until the holes heal. Once the holes heal you have to go back and get the temporary earrings taken out and the spiral put in.

The actual piercing was one of the single most painful experiences that I have endured voluntarily. The healing process was a complete pain - literally and figuratively. It took a LONG time because for some reason I went back and forth getting infections in one or more of the earring holes for reasons I could not figure out. I tried to clean it consistently, but honestly I am a bit obsessive and could not stop touching it which probably made it worse. Another reason it took me a long time to go and get the spiral put in is because I have to go to another town to get it done and the hours of operation really conflict with my schedule.

I finally decided that I just needed to go and get the spiral put in because I think the infection issue is something I will have to deal with for the entire time I keep this earring in. (I HAVE considered just taking it out completely but I am too stubborn). I just went and got it down.

It was ALMOST as painful as getting the original piercing. I think that part of the issue is the person who did the piercing. I am not suggesting that she is unclean, in fact I made sure to check out that the needles came right out of the packet and that the earring was disinfected before going into my ear. She wore gloves and she disinfected my ear before piercing. BUT, I just don't think she has had a lot of experience in what she is doing. The holes are not an equal distance apart, The"angle" of one hole is not at the same angle of the other two. When she took the earrings out and tried to put the spiral in, the one hole was smaller than the other, which she discovered after trying to force something too large into the small hole in my ear cartilage.

So she made the hole larger, and managed to get the spiral in. The loops in the spiral are unequal and the top loop is pushing on my ear. I just think the whole process was unprofessional. I am not having a lot of luck here.