Ear Piercing Types

Piercing the ear and adorning it with tiny pieces of jewelry has been in vogue since a long time and is equally popular among men and women. People, especially the teenagers, simply love to flaunt their pierced ears, adorned with suitable jewelry, made of silver, titanium, gold, steel, etc. Those who sport jewelry in different areas of their ear are considered to be making a different style statement. Ear piercing ranges from simple to the most intricate and painful ones. There are typically nine parts of the ear, which can be pierced. Which one do you get pierced depends entirely on your preference. To know more about the types of ear piercing, go through the following lines.

The standard and the simplest form of ear piercing comprises of making a hole on the lobe. Piercing gun is the device used to make such a hole. The device drives a pointed starter earring through the lobe, making a hole in it. A variety of jewelry can be worn in the ear lobes, ranging from barbells, studs to flesh tunnels made of steel or titanium.

Piercing the helix or the upper ear is a common practice nowadays. In this case, the piece of jewelry is inserted, after making the hole, with the help of a small-gauge, hollow piercing needle. Ball closure rings and studs are the jewelry pieces commonly used for the helix.  

 

After helix, it is conch piercing that has gained popularity amongst the fashion buffs. The center ear cartilage, adjacent to the ear canal, is pierced by using a large-gauge, hollow piercing needle. The area is stretched a little bit, so that the circular barbell jewelry passes through it easily. An alternative method for conch piercing is to use dermal punch.

You can flaunt the industrial piercing by connecting two pierced holes on the upper ear, with a single straight piece of jewelry. The jewelry, a barbell or a threaded accessory, is inserted from the first piercing and traveling diagonally across the front portion of the upper cartilage of the ear, goes through the second hole. Then, the jewelry is fastened with a screw-on bead, located behind the second hole. Also called scaffold piercing, this is probably the most painful of all the types of ear piercing.

 

Rook piercing is undertaken at the anti-helix of the ear. Ball closure rings, circular barbells and clip-in accessories are the most appropriate pieces of jewelry to adorn the hole in this case. Rook piercing is a very painful process, mainly because of a large amount of cartilage tissues being present in the anti-helix. Great care should be taken while making the hole, because anti-helix is a very sensitive part of the ear, susceptible to bleeding and swelling.

 

In daith piercing, a curved needle is used to make the hole, so as to avoid damage to other parts of the ear. Since daith is very difficult to stretch, small-gauge jewelry, such as captive bead ring, ball closure ring, circular barbell or clip-in accessory, will be appropriate to adorn the hole made therein.

 

The tragus, a small projection in the front of the ear canal, can be pierced by using a hollow, low-gauge needle. You may opt for either a straight or a curved needle to make the hole. While piercing, the needle is driven into a tiny cork, positioned behind the tragus, so that it doesn’t get into the aural canal. The most suitable jewelry for tragus piercing is a tiny, circular barbell.

 

In anti-tragus piercing, the inner cartilage of the ear, situated in the antiragus, is pierced to insert a jewelry. This type of piercing is quite similar to tragus piercing, with the exception that it is done through the ridge of the cartilage that is located above the earlobe. 

During snug piercing, a piece of jewelry is inserted into the anti-helix portion of the ear, which stretches from the medial to lateral surfaces. The portion of the ear can be accessorized with a tiny circular clip-in jewelry. This ear piercing is less popular as compared to other types.