Cartilage Ear Piercing and a 7mm Hood

[Cacia]

ohhhhhhh noooooo

sorry, I am a wimp

I live in fear of flesh eating bacteria. I know too many surfers that got some wicked stuff in Indo. I like my body sealed up with skin.

 

[Sas]

I was planning on getting a sleeper after it had healed; a friend tells me that sleepers are more prone to infection when the piecing is new as oppose to studs. I will ask person who does it, and if a stud is the noticeably safer option then I guess I'll just suck it up and deal with it until I can get a sleeper.

Thanks for all the input guys, I'm glad a cartilage piercing is still possible even with ripping the neoprene vacuum that is a hood off your head

Yea I was told by all the piercers I have been to, that a stud is better for healing as less infection. However, I found this not to be the case (both for ears and other body parts!), and have had much better luck with sleepers. Infection shouldn't be a problem if you frequently use a disinfectant (I used liquid dettol). I suspect because studs get caught on a lot of things, it makes it longer to heal.

If you decide to stay with a stud, a bandaid over it is very helpful!

 

[Tortuga68]

As further evidence, I had my nipple pierced (I know a lot of people go Eww, but it actually hurt less than my ear) and originally had a long-ish implant-grade titanium barbell in it. I cleaned it every other day in the shower with disinfectant as instructed, didn't dive etc, it still wouldn't clean up. Based on my ear experience, I change to a medium gauge titanium ring and hey presto - all good a few of weeks later

IMHO the bottom line is rings are just a lot easier to keep clean since you can rotate them, and place less stress on the piercing (especially if there's swelling from initial infection)

 

[Coelacanth]

Yeah I'll see what I can do about getting it pierced with a sleeper, I hate posts in general.

If you can rotate it through the piercing though, wouldn't you have to stretch it to a higher gauge?