My helix piercing

Okay so on the 15/08/2011 I got my helix pierced and I've decided to make myself a sort of diary~ to keep myself and anyone who wants to read informed on its progress and things. My only other cartilage piercing is my tragus (on my other ear which I got pierced on 11/09/2010) and that's been giving me problems for so long and I wish I had made a note of exactly what happened and what I did for future reference. I haven't wanted to get anything else done while it was still gross, but I decided 10 months later I was bored of waiting and got my helix, nothing too complex but still a bit more than a standard lobe.

Day One 15/08/2011:

15/05/2011 - The day it was pierced

So I went into the piercer place at around 3 o'clock where a lovely girl greeted me and I told her what I wanted. She offered me the option of a stud (there was a selection and studs were the cheapest deal) or a BCR (different metals with different pricings), I asked which healed better as I've heard studs do, which she replied studs, so I got that. I filled in a form and paid for the piercing. The place was empty except her, me and my boyfriend so she just went in to the clean piercey bit and set everything up then called me in when she was ready.
She asked where abouts I wanted it, so I pointed, she said "quite high up then?" I said, "yeah just a little further than the middle". She then drew a dot (which can be changed if you don't like the placement, but I did) then proceeded. She asked if I was nervous, which I was a little, although I'm not scared of needles it's just the prospect of having something sharp shoved through your ear.
She told me to breath in as she did it and basically told me to keep breathing as she then put in the jewelery then put the butterfly on the back. She told me it would take around 3 months before I could change the jewelery, try not to touch it or sleep on that side and to wash it twice a day with salt water, she also gave me an information sheet. I was then done and left, the actual piercing barely took a minute.
The pain of when it is actually being pierced to me kind of felt like how it does when someone pinches you really hard with their nails, bearable but unpleasant. She said it would feet quite "hot" for the rest of the day (to me it was kind of how it does when you stretch your ear) however this only lasted for about 5 minutes and then just felt a bit sore.

Day Two 16/08/2011:
My technique so far for cleaning this piercing is using a hot salt water compress, like I have recently been doing to try and "cure" my tragus, however not for as long and afterwards going in with a cotton bud with salt water on just to make sure there's no sort of crust lingering.
There is virtually no more pain apart from if I knock it, for example when putting on a jumper or pulling my hair back.
I have tried to keep my hair out of its way as much as possible and will continue to do so this week to try and keep the least amount of dirt in it as possible (like any dirt or grease from my hair).
I've only slept one night and it's something to get used to. Before I got my tragus pierced I was used to sleeping on the other side, but I trained myself to sleep the other way whilst it was healing, and now I need to retrain myself to go back to wear I was! (If that made any sense at all)

Day Four 18/08/2011

18/08/2011 (straight after cleaning)

 Today it's been really sore, like a pretty much constant pain for the first time since I got it pierced. It also looks pretty red (the picture is just after I cleaned it so is a bit redder than it has been) but i'm super paranoid. I accidentally hit it properly today, well not properly but like it hurt so badly when I was combing my hair after a shower and I accidentally hit it (I now dread showers because the whole process of washing/combing hair can get painful.) I haven't slept on it or anything so I don't know why it's gone like this and I'm hoping it's just a phase or something..


 23/08/2011 - One week and a day after pierced

23/08/2011 (straight after cleaning)

All is well so far! The constant pain from before only happened for that day and since it's been good. I still don't sleep on it directly but if I position my pillows/hands right I can sleep on that side. There's been no swelling since and no redness apart from after being cleaned (like in the picture above).

24/08/2011

24/08/2011

This picture's just to show you how it looks normally at the moment (instead of after cleaning when it's bright red!)

25/08/2011
All is well with my helix. It started to be a little itchy in the afternoon, but after googling it I found that it's quite common and means it's healing (I had no other symptoms) which is good. :)

04/09/2011
Until now I've had no trouble with my helix. I've continued cleaning it - admittedly not as thoroughly as I had been and perhaps missing a clean or two due to the days schedule (I always clean it at least once a day though). I've been able to sleep on it (ish) with little discomfort except the back of the stud digging into my neck/head, so I tend to get a pillows to position my ear in a way so it's not leaning on anything. However when I was cleaning it a few minutes ago, I saw a little blood on my cotton ball. I was surprised because I literally felt nothing. The blood was still "wet" (as apposed to being dried up) so I wiped away what came out however I'm going to leave it for the night (rather than check and clean up anymore than comes out in case I aggrivate it). I'll check it in the morning and obviously wipe away any blood that may have dried up in the night. From googling it, it doesn't seem like a big deal, especially if there are no other symptoms and as it's a new piercing. I may have knocked it at some point and not realised.

12/09/11
I know it's been over a week, but I've had no bleeding since. I was going to update the morning after saying this but I figured I would wait a little while to see if it bled again - so far nothing. As far as I'm aware, healing is going well. I do admit to slacking on cleaning though.. I really need to make sure I do it.

16/08/12
It's been a year! I actually missed a part out where I didn't want to take a picture but it was gross, but basically a few months ago it was hideously pusy and gross due to me changing the jewellery (for the better, I have since learned butterfly back earrings are not appropriate for helix piercings, the crusties get so caught up in them it's gross.) After consistently cleaning it, but not overly, it got better.
Currently, it's lovely! I have (I think) a 6mm titanium labret bar in it currently and it fits beautifully. I think my body isn't a fan of stainless steel, I know it's rare to be allergic to it but my bodies a bit funny with piercings anyway so it wouldn't surprise me.

Clara xx