Piercing dangers.

There's two reasons that we generally don't recommend piercings through cartilage:

1. In some people, cartilage has a tendency to form a large scar (called a hypertrophic scar) or in some people, a keloid. The attached pictures show a keloid that formed on a tragus piercing and a helix piercing.
2. Cartilage has a very minimal blood supply. We are dependent upon blood circulation to get antibiotics to the site of an infection. In the event you get a infection of a cartilage piercing, it can result in damage to the ear and in extreme cases, removal of a section of the ear.

 

Yes, having a cartilage piercing can go wrong REALLY badly if you don't look after it, but I feel like you're slightly exaggerating the risks. In most cases there will be no problems at all. By taking good care of the piercing while it's healing (good aftercare, cleaning etc) you can minimize the risk of infection a lot.

To the OP: If you still decide to get one after getting all the information you want, PLEASE have it done by a professional piercer instead of some DIY job in someone's basement. A professional can tell you all about how to take care of it, how the healing process goes, but can also tell you about the risks. And having it done by a professional in a sterile environment also hugely decreases the chances of infection.

I know some people with cartilage piercings (not just ears) and none of them have had problems with theirs. Wanted to show this side of the story instead of just telling about the risks.

 

Never never never have a DIY cartilage job, and never get it done in a store with a piercing gun. Go to a pro who uses hollow needles and will show you that it is properly sterilized. They should be willing to take it out of the package in front of you. My recommendation is to call around and ask various piercing shops if they sterilize their jewelry and instruments with an autoclave.

I, like you, thought, "Omg, cartilage piercings are cool! I want one! What could go wrong!?" so I hopped right out about a year ago and got two holes done in the helix of my left ear. I never stopped having issues with them. They oozed constantly, I developed hypertrophic scarring on the entry and exit part of both piercings, they hurt, they bled, and eventually, after 4 months of having them, they got infected entirely and I had to remove them and go to a doctor for antibiotics. I have the pictures. It wasn't pretty.

Things I did wrong:

1) My piercer used crap jewelry. It was "surgical steel", but that doesn't MEAN anything. I would say that if you're going to do this, get titanium jewelry for it. I use full titanium captive bead rings (CBRs) in all of my piercings. If you want a link to cheap ones, I can PM it to you. This is vital, because as it turns out, all/most of my problems were caused by the fact that I'm allergic to metals.

2) I wasn't given proper aftercare instructions. NEVER touch your piercings! If you do touch them, make sure your hands are immaculately clean. DO NOT TWIST THEM. There is some stupid myth going around that if you don't twist your piercings, the skin will grow over the earrings and around them, but cartilage isn't porous like flesh is and that WILL NOT happen. All you'll do is severely traumatize your new piercings by twisting them. Also, you're supposed to clean cartilage piercings with warm sea salt soaks twice a day for the first few months afterwards, and then once a day for up to a year or two afterwards. The ratio of sea salt to water is 1/8 tsp for every 8 oz of water. The water needs to be warm but not hot. You will need to sit with your ear soaking in a glass of water for 5-10 minutes each time you clean it. It requires much patience :lol:. DO NOT use anything else! Soap usually has extra stuff added for scents that will irritate piercings. H2Ocean is okay, but mostly it's water, so you're paying a lot for something you could get for mostly free. MAKE SURE it's sea salt specifically! Other salt has iodine in it and iodine will irritate your piercing.

3) Consider getting a smaller gauge. I got mine done in 14g and I really like the thicker jewelry, but it's extremely hard to heal. If you can do a 16g, it'll be infinitely easier.

4) Realize that some people just can't do cartilage piercings. Their blood flow to the cartilage parts of the ear isn't sufficient enough to ever let the piercing heal (though the warmth of the water in the sea salt soaks increases circulation, thus proving quite helpful). I'm apparently not an ideal candidate for piercings at all, but I love getting them, so I battle on :lol:. There are things to do if you get a hypertrophic scarring bump (tea tree oil, chamomile tea soaks, aspirin paints, etc.), so don't freak out if you do get pierced and a bump develops. Cartilage piercings are some of THE crankiest ones to have. You have to care for them meticulously. It takes a year for most cartilage piercings to heal. You can't get anything on them (for instance, it would be ill-advised to go swimming with a still-healing cartilage piercing). They're a pain. You have to decide whether, given alllll of that, it's worth it :lol:. I thought it was, so I got mine redone at the beginning of February and have been doing okay for 5 months now ^_^.

If you want any more info, just let me know. I found out nearly everything about this the hard way and I definitely don't mind helping others not have to make the mistakes I did.

 

Wonderful post! I found the concentrations of peroxide in hair dye (when rinsing it out) help piercings heal very well. Otherwise warm salt water is still best.