I'm getting my industrial for my birthday in a couple weeks. I'm not scared, just concerned that we won't get the placement I want because my snug is in the way Other than that, I've got 3 in each lobe, cartilage, nostril, and tragus. I'm going to get my belly button when I reach goal.

Well, I can relate to the rejected, migration issues. Some people just heal awesome and I'm not one of those people. I've had to fight for every peircing I've kept, and the only ones I was able to keep are the nose-re-pierced every summer for 5 years until I finally found a retainer that works (TOTM retainers, don't bother trying to put on the backs, it won't work and they stay in OK. I got mine at Hot Topic) for the school year-I teach-, the navel-peirced 4 times, and my ears- 3 on each side. R.I.P. piercings: nipples 2X, cartilege 3X.

So many cartilage piercings have issues because they weren't pierced right i.e. with a gun. Where did you have yours pierced?

I have trouble healing also. Right now I'm battling with my snug and helix/daith piercings. One day there's a bump - next day fine - one day no pain - next day hurts again..... I'm doing the chamomile tea bag thing as often as I can but I really wish they would settle down. It's been about 4 1/2 months and I DO know they can take a year or more but it's so hard to not sleep on that side - lol. I need another one - they make me feel better when I'm down - but I just can't justify it when I'm still fighting with these two I LOVE how the microdermals look. I def want to try one of those. Did they heal quickly ?

For expert advice on all things body piercing, I highly recommend reading "The Piercing Bible" by Elayne Angel. I learned SO much from reading this book

Well- Indie, I actually had my cartilage done first by gun, when I knew no better, and neither did they. It was with a mini-stud which began burrowing into my ear when the swelling began. After several painful attempts to remove the piercing stud with it slipping out of my fingers and being yanked into the painfully swollen skin I finally got it out and let it heal. I then tried again with a larger stud, but got the large nasty bump look and couldn't sleep on that side. So the piercing won again. After that, it got personal. I read/discovered issues with guns and studs so I switched to body-peircing style with CBR. I wised up and put it on the side of my head I sleep the least on. It worked with the swelling better, but would not heal. It developed the bump on the back I was hoping to avoid, but I was still going to win. In fact, I'd still be battling it out if it weren't for the little thought I had while watching the UFC- Mixed Martial Arts if anyone doesn't know. Some of these acronyms lose me I know. Anywhoo, a lot of the fighters have a condition called cauliflower ear where they have been punched so often that they swell up and fill with liquid and resemble, well, a cauliflower. When these ears get hit, they tend to split open again easily causing intense pain. Eew. So one night while carefully placing my head onto my pillow as to cause the least dicomfort the nagging idea came into my head. What if my bump on the back of my ear is like a miniature cauliflower ear? What if it's not going to go back down? What if it stays forever? I wanted the piercing to make my ear look better, not worse. So I took it out, and conceded defeat. BTW, it went away- so the random thought was not correct.

I've read some articles by her and she definitely knows her stuff. In fact, she is pretty much a piercing icon and her tattoo of full-sized angel wings has been a much copied idea. I get 2 or three pricing requests yearly.

The bump is referred to as a "piercing pimple". It's caused by trauma i.e. when the jewelry moves in the hole too much. It can also be caused by how your piercer performs the piercing. When a cartilage piercing is perfomed, the piercer will press on the area around the jewelry to reconnect the tissue back to the cartilage. If this isn't done, fluid and extra cells will come in to fill the gap. These things are very hard to get rid of - I've got one on my tragus that hurts to high heaven!!

You all have me soooo curious and intrigued about piercings! I got a tattoo last december and i love it and all this talk about piercing has me wanting something....My dh has requested a vch piercing and i've looked into it and i'm thinking i could handle it....idk...

to those of you who have had it done....what was it like? the procedure and living with it? were you pleased with it? Would u do it again?

I've got 6g regular lobes (I like 'em small), second holes, helix on my left ear, misc. cartilage on my right ear, and a rook. I used to have a horizontal eyebrow but... sadly it died.

Okay, my rook is like.. definitely infected. I'm going to get it checked it out tonight, and I'm just going to keep doing soaks and stuff, but boy, does it hurt. : (

I have nothing pierced anymore. At different points I've had many holes in my ear lobes and cartilage, my belly button, my tongue, lip, and eyebrow. I really want to get my nose pierced now, but I feel like such a poser since it seems like everyone has it done now. Do they take long to heal? I just may get one anyway, but who knows.

I know what you're saying about being a "poser" - a lot of people do have nose piercings lately... but I look at the nostril piercing's acceptance as being a step toward acceptance of a lot of other piercings... you know?: ) Plus, it IS a cute one. If you want one, get it! I've been with several of my friends to get them done, and from what they've told me, while it does take a little while to heal, it's a piercing with a low difficulty level... I think they tell you it takes a couple months to hear, but I think it feels fine after a couple weeks. Plus, if you remove them, they close SO fast - which is good and bad...

How long did it take your piercings to heal up - especially your eyebrow? If you don't mind me asking... mine is healed, but I've got a nasty (nasty to me, that is) scar...

I have both lobes pierced (x1 ea) - currently 1.6mm, want 10mm (dont ask me to convert that to gauges, I can never remember!)... But they are *****y as **** with me every time.

I also have both nipples horizontally pierced.

Want quite a few more but need to make some decisions!

You are right about it being a step towards acceptance. I'm also a bit hesitant because I am working on getting my teaching degree and will start observing in classrooms soon, and I would like to be able to put in a retainer or tiny stud when I do that.

As for my stuff healing, I still don't know if my eyebrow is fully closed and it's been at least 4 years since I've had anything in there. I know I could still get my barbell in easily after like a year. I don't think my scar is bad, but is definitely visible. My lip healed very quickly because I only had it like 2 or 3 months before I took it out, but I think that scar is really bad. My tongue stayed open for a while because I had it for so long, and my belly button was such a mess because I had pierced it by myself the first time and besides getting infected, it migrated. I had problems with it the whole time I had it professionally done too, so I don't even remember how long it took to heal over.

I am in love with mine. I bruised almost instantly, even though my piercer(Cholo from Artistic Element in Yucaipa, CA. You may have seen him have his ripped lobe corrected on Dr. 90210 some years back, he is a pretty unforgettable guy LOL) promised me I wouldn't LOL I bruise if you sneeze in my direction so I expected it anyway. But for the most part it healed well, and pretty quickly. Every so often if I scrape it against my pillow, or if I catch it on a towel or something I will have a bit of discomfort and sometimes some lymph for a day or so, I clean it daily with saline solution (just picked a bottle up at Wal-Mart) but otherwise its pretty good, I'd venture to say the best piercing I have ever had personally and I reject piercings like CRAZY!