Piercing of ear lobes has been carried out for as long history records it, but cartilage piercing has become popular more recently as people seek other ways to adorn their bodies. Being different from the crowd was as important 1,000 years ago as it is now apparently. Cartilage piercing is one form of body piercing that the modern crowd has found to be different.
The reason for cartilage piercing to have taken so long to catch on is unknown, but it is not new, and people have being doing this for thousands of years. However, it is more painful and infection is easier to set in than with soft-tissue piercings, so perhaps that's why it has taken today's modern man and woman time to adopt it.
What is Cartilage?
Cartilage is the connective tissue that forms the structure of your ears, nose and areas around your ribs and between the bones of your joints. It is tougher than skin and flesh to pierce, and easier to damage when piercing takes place. That is why you should never try to do it yourself, and should make sure that any cartilage piercing you have carried out is done by professionally trained body piercers. Damage to cartilage can cause ugly scarring that will be very costly to remove.
It is generally the ear cartilage that is involved in cartilage piercings, where there are three areas popular for piercing: the tragus, the helix and the conch. Each of these forms the bulk of your external ear, and if you feel your earlobe, and then the rest of your ear, you will understand the difference in structure between them. Here is each of these areas in more detail:
The Tragus Cartilage
The tragus is the small triangular nub of cartilage that sits right at the entrance to your ear - right beside your cheekbones. Tragus piercing has now become a common form of cartilage piercing and is fairly thick area of cartilage that can cause a fair amount of discomfort when pierced.
The Helix
The helix is the outside ridge of your ear and the spiral that runs just under it, leading sound waves into the middle ear. The cartilage here is fairly thin, and is much easier to pierce than the tragus. This is where ear piercing other than the lobe began.
The Conch
This part of the ear is the central part inside the helix, and is named after the shell it resembles. This is an easier piercing to have done than the tragus, because the cartilage here is thinner.
Healing of Cartilage Piercings
Cartilage piercings take a lot longer to heal than lobe piercings. This can take from two to twelve months to heal, depending on the area pierced and the type of piercing. Double or industrial piercings, such as in the helix, take longer to heal and is more painful during the healing process. Orbitals are the same.
To facilitate rapid healing, you should keep the same jewellery in and not change it or even take it out, or it might close up. Cartilage heals differently to an ear lobe piercing and might rapidly close unless you keep your jewellery in throughout. The larger the gauge, the longer it will take to heal.
A salt solution can be used to promote healing, dissolving a large teaspoonful in a small cup of water. Alternatively, there are many commercial antiseptics available for ear piercings, such as H2Ocean. Finally, make sure your cartilage is pierced with a needle. A gun can cause a great deal of damage and consequent scarring and disfigurement.
If you follow the above advice, you can be proud of your fabulous new cartilage piercing and jewellery that everybody will admire.
Mark continues to promote good practice within the body piercing industry at his website.
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