During the last few years, the world has seen the emergence of a new trend with the introduction of different types of body piercings. While earlier, earlobe was the only place that was most commonly pierced, today, body piercing has got a whole new meaning with the introduction of a new lot of piercings including cartilage, nose, belly button, cheek, etc. Among these various types of piercings, the most common is the ear piercing. However, ear piercing is not restricted to the earlobes, rather, it has become a fashion statement to pierce the cartilage of the ears. The cartilage can be explained as the area above the ear which is thicker than the earlobes. As there is no blood supply to this part of the ear, the chances of infection are higher in cartilage piercing. One of the causes of cartilage piercing infection is the wrong type of earring. Hence, it is important to know about earrings, if you are keen on getting your cartilage pierced. However, before we go into the details, let us gather some more information on cartilage piercing in general.
Cartilage Piercing Information
There are a variety of cartilage piercings that one can choose from. Some of the popular cartilage piercings include tragus, conch, daith, helix, rook, antitragus, snug, shell and industrial piercing. All these piercings are done with the help of a piercing needle and never with a gunshot. This is because the cartilage is very thick and the gun piercing equipment is made only to pierce the earlobe. Moreover, as the same equipment is used for everyone, the risk of getting infected is also higher. Once the piercing is done, it is important to take appropriate aftercare so that it heals properly. It will take almost 8 - 12 months for the cartilage piercing to heal completely and during this time, it is extremely crucial to take extra care to ensure safe and speedy healing. For this, one has to follow the aftercare instructions given by the piercing expert carefully.
Earrings for Pierced Cartilage
As I have said earlier, one of the most important factor which has to be kept in mind for proper healing is the cartilage jewelry. Though there are a variety of earrings available in the market, it is important to choose the correct one at the time of piercing. The cartilage earring that one opts for during the time of piercing must be of gold, surgical stainless steel or sterling silver. Captive rings are best worn during the healing period as it gives space for the person to clean the jewelry properly and also leads to better healing. However, if you do not find them comfortable, it is also fine to use studs, but make sure that they are not too tight.
The cartilage earring that is worn when the ear piercing is done should not be removed before it is completely healed. If you have to remove the piercing due to any reason, never do it on your own. Rather, you should go to your piercer to get your earring removed. Also, once you have removed your earring, make sure that you wear it without much delay as keeping the piercing open for a long time can cause the piercing to close quickly.
Nevertheless, when cartilage piercing is completely healed, one can opt for suitable earrings. These earrings are available in different metals including surgical steal, white gold, sterling silver, titanium, etc. After the healing period is complete, you can opt for cheap earrings, but only if you do not have an allergy to such jewelry. Though hoops are best for earlobe piercing, there are a variety of small cartilage hoop earrings that one can choose from. Hoop earrings are best for rook, daith and helix piercing. Cartilage piercing studs are the next options as different types of studs embedded with precious and non precious stones are available in the market. If you have done an industrial piercing, you still have lots of options for earrings in the form of plain barbells, curved or twisted barbells as well as those which have beads and stones on them. Apart from this, earrings like circular barbells, cuffs, captive beads look good on all types of ear cartilage piercings.
I hope this article will help you choose the perfect jewelry for yourself. Once your cartilage piercing is healed fully, experiment with different types of earrings and choose those that look best on you.
