00:00Life is traumatic.
00:01You're not getting out of this place
00:03without a little bit of pain.
00:05Healing a piercing is going to take time and patience
00:10and a little bit of care.
00:11And if you can do those three things,
00:14you can successfully heal anything.
00:20I'm Darin Dean and I'm getting my cartilage pierced today.
00:23I've always been into piercings.
00:25I feel like piercings are a little bit
00:27less permanent than tattoos.
00:29Piercings are a better option for me
00:31because I can take them out.
00:32I can switch the jewelry.
00:33I can let them heal back.
00:35If I don't like them,
00:36I was stoked when I first heard
00:38about cartilage piercings for sure.
00:39For nursing school,
00:40we can usually only have one in each year,
00:43but it kind of depends on the instructor that you have.
00:46I've seen nurses during my clinicals
00:49and they pretty much wear whatever they want.
00:50They have tattoos, they have piercings.
00:52I think once I get to the actual job, I'll be good.
00:55I've gotten two cartilage piercings before.
00:57Both of them have scarred over with keloid scars,
01:00which are little bumps that are right near the piercing.
01:03So I was super hesitant when I was asked to do this,
01:05but I am excited to learn from a really good professional
01:09about the aftercare process,
01:11because I know that's honestly the most important part.
01:13So I trust him and I'm ready to learn and ready for my piercing to look amazing.
01:20I'm Brian Keith Thompson.
01:21I own Body Electric in Los Angeles, and I am a piercer.
01:25The difference between a Ford helix and a typical helix piercing,
01:30the outer cartilage area, is I'd say a little bit of the cool factor.
01:34It's a little bit more pain.
01:35The reason why cartilage piercings, you're always hearing your friends and family talk about them.
01:41If they've been pierced multiple times,
01:43you're probably talking about how hard it is to heal the cartilage piercing.
01:46And that's because the cartilage is very dense.
01:48A keloid is, it's a raised scar.
01:51Some people that keloid, if they get pierced with a needle, it doesn't really take in.
01:56You know, something like a gun that's more traumatic, you know, can cause a keloid.
02:02But nine times out of ten, I'd say it is hypotropic scarring.
02:07And that is where your body overproduces collagen and kind of creates like a bubble around the jewelry and the
02:12piercing.
02:13And usually that is caused by either allergic reaction, sensitivity to the jewelry, improper angle of the piercing,
02:21or just, you just can't leave it alone, you keep hitting it. Trauma.
02:26When I noticed scarring on my last two cartilage piercings, I googled everything, I didn't really know what to do,
02:33so I just took the jewelry out and just let it heal back over because I was really nervous that
02:39I was going to have a massive scar.
02:40A lot of times people misdiagnose an infection with a nickel allergy or just an allergy altogether.
02:49And they think it's an infection, and it's not.
02:52The only thing I carry at Body Electric is titanium, platinum, gold, that's it.
02:57I wouldn't say that I like pain like that, but I'm not really nervous about stuff like that.
03:02It's probably good because I'm a nurse and I have to be around like needles and blood all the time.
03:05People go into the piercing just summing up the courage to get the piercing, and that's a lot.
03:11You know, you're nervous of the pain, you're nervous of, you've never been in the studio before,
03:16they're going to laugh at you, or you have anxiety about the whole process, waiting in the waiting room,
03:23filling out the paperwork, picking out the jewelry, if the piercer is going to be nice to you or not.
03:28I think the only thing that I'm super nervous about, honestly, is getting the same scarring that I've had before
03:33and having to take it out because I do love piercings, so I want to make sure that it heals
03:37correctly
03:38and that I can wear super cute jewelry. I'm excited to see a really amazing professional
03:44and see how it works out with me.
03:54I'm going to clean the area. First, I use an alcohol swab.
04:00Then I'm going to use an antimicrobial cleanser. I use two different cleansers.
04:08I clean the area, dry it off. You're going to see me take a toothpick,
04:13and with Janice and Violet, I'm going to mark where I'm going to pierce.
04:22Now it's time for the piercing.
04:24The way I pierce a Ford Helix is a little bit different than most, probably.
04:28I use a couple different tools, and it takes a little longer for me.
04:31It's just the way I feel comfortable piercing it.
04:39I use a tool and I pierce directly into the Ford Helix.
05:21You're going to see a long, skinny rod type thing.
05:24It looks like a needle, but it's not.
05:25It's called a taper.
05:38I take that and I back the needle out with that.
05:40So now that is a placeholder holding the piercing open for me.
05:48So then I take the base of the jewelry, and that's what's called a librette back.
05:52And it's a little post with a flat back.
05:54And that's what's going to keep the jewelry in, and that's what's going to heal in your body.
06:07Then I use my little small hemostats.
06:09I hold on to the post, and I put the diamond on.
06:37Oh my gosh, it looks so good.
06:43After the piercing, my initial reaction was that it did not hurt as much as I thought
06:47it was going to hurt, and I was kind of surprised with the aftercare process.
06:51I didn't know that doing less is actually better for your piercing.
06:54Now this soap has tea tree oil in it.
06:57It's Dr. Bronis' as well, and I only want you using it on these two.
07:02Okay.
07:03Those two.
07:04A little bit in your hand, and just gently move the bubbles around.
07:07The bubbles, the suds are doing the work.
07:09You don't need to aggressively get in there and clean it, okay?
07:12I just felt like mixing metals with her would be cool.
07:16She looked good with the hoops, but those hoops were just, like I told her, she needs
07:19to dig a hole in her backyard and throw those into that hole.
07:23I used yellow and white gold.
07:25I think I did a double little diamond, my little signature piece on the right side.
07:31Before I got the piercing, I thought that my previous two cartilage piercings that I had
07:36had keloid scarring, but he actually told me that they were hypertrophic scars, which
07:41just means that your piercing is irritated and inflamed and, you know, not liking all the
07:47movement that you're doing.
07:48Low piercings can take a lot more punishment.
07:51Cartilage doesn't like it, man.
07:53They do not like to be messed with at all.
07:55So don't sleep on it.
07:57Don't play with it.
07:58It's not a puppy.
07:59Keep your hands off of it.
08:01Your hands are covered in bacteria.
08:03At any given time, at any day in Los Angeles, you have about 50 strains of bacteria on your
08:09hands.
08:09Don't touch your piercing.
08:11That's how you get an infection.
08:13For somebody that wants flexibility with their piercings and maybe, you know, doesn't want
08:18something that's super loud and obvious, I would for sure recommend to get the forward
08:23helix piercing.
