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Conch / Tragus. How much pain?

I believe this goes here...

I'm tempted to get either my conch and / or tragus pierced. I've wanted both of them done for at least a year now, and I've got the opportunity to now... I've had my navel pierced and my ears pierced three times (on the lobe) - and apart from a 'sharp pinch' feel, that's all I felt pain wise.
But... How painful is it (on a scale of 1 to 10)? How long does the pain last? How long does it take to heal? And how much does it typically cost?

Any answers to my questions will be great - thank you!

EDIT: And what's the deal with keloids?
(edited 10 years ago)
Cartilage piercings are very different from skin piercings in terms of the type of pain, pain duration, sensitivity, healing time and also care. I don't have a conch but I have tragus, nose and rook piercings.
The first thing is that people have different personal measures of pain and react to different causes of pain in individual ways. For me, cartilage piercings always ache more than anything, because the cartilage is being pushed out of shape. My tragus piercing hurt more than my lobes, but that is probably because the pain lasted longer, the guy didn't freeze the inside of my ear properly and he couldn't get the ball on the ring so he kept on pulling on it. For me I would put lobes at 3 and cartilage and 5/6 out of ten for pain.
Generally, the skin heals as quickly as no-cartilage piercings, but even once you've thought it's healed it may take a while for the cartilage to stop closing up. That happens because it is spongey so it goes back to it's original shape.
My tragus cost me £25 including jewellery.
I had my tragus done 5 years ago, it cost round £25-30, I don't remember it being particularly painful, and it healed quickly.

I had my conch done today, it cost £28, and it hurt like hell, but it was done in about a second so really the pain is nothing to worry about - by the time you've registered the pain, it's over. It's really tender at the moment (I had it a few hours ago) but it's not unbearable.
I've had 13 piercings, from ear lobes, to nose, to frowny, and conch was by far the worst. It made a crunching noise :s

I totally love it though, it was definitely worth it and only hurt for a bit,
I paid £30 for it.
Reply 4
Ahh okay :smile: Thank you.
Popppppy -do you mean it was the worst pain wise, or because of the crunching/popping noise (or a bit of both)?

Thank you to all for answering!
Never had it but I had my nose peirced, with keloids, I have one in my nose but you can't tell it's just on the inside if that makes sense. But mine was because the bar heated up in the sun and burnt it.
I got my tragus pierced about 6 months ago. I personally didn't hear it pop or crunch (thankfully), and I didn't find it painful either. I was able to sleep on it a lot quicker than I could sleep on my helix too.
It looks really cute too. :smile:
Original post by LittleRedMonster
Cartilage piercings are very different from skin piercings in terms of the type of pain, pain duration, sensitivity, healing time and also care. I don't have a conch but I have tragus, nose and rook piercings.
The first thing is that people have different personal measures of pain and react to different causes of pain in individual ways. For me, cartilage piercings always ache more than anything, because the cartilage is being pushed out of shape. My tragus piercing hurt more than my lobes, but that is probably because the pain lasted longer, the guy didn't freeze the inside of my ear properly and he couldn't get the ball on the ring so he kept on pulling on it. For me I would put lobes at 3 and cartilage and 5/6 out of ten for pain.
Generally, the skin heals as quickly as no-cartilage piercings, but even once you've thought it's healed it may take a while for the cartilage to stop closing up. That happens because it is spongey so it goes back to it's original shape.
My tragus cost me £25 including jewellery.


If the needle is sharp there shouldn't be any tissue "pushed out of shape" it should just be cut right out. Cartilage is one of the tissues in the body that can't repair itself, so the cartilage doesn't really close up, however the skin around it obviously does.


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Original post by myblueheaven339
If the needle is sharp there shouldn't be any tissue "pushed out of shape" it should just be cut right out. Cartilage is one of the tissues in the body that can't repair itself, so the cartilage doesn't really close up, however the skin around it obviously does.


Well then why when I take my cartilage piercings out for a while are they easy to get through the skin but I get an ache when I got through the cartilage and it's harder to get through that? I have had my piercings for years now so the skin doesn't close up at all.

Also when I got my rook piercing it grew out and the cartilage has healed i.e. there is no gap or line where the piercing grew out of my ear.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by LittleRedMonster
Well then why when I take my cartilage piercings out for a while are they easy to get through the skin but I get an ache when I got through the cartilage and it's harder to get through that? I have had my piercings for years now so the skin doesn't close up at all.

Also when I got my rook piercing it grew out and the cartilage has healed i.e. there is no gap or line where the piercing grew out of my ear.


In my experience the hole can shrink a little due to the elastin in the cartilage, but because the cartilage has no real blood supply it doesn't heal properly. When you reinsert jewellery you are essentially stretching the cartilage and that's why it aches. I can only assume you were lucky with the rook not leaving a scar, but not so lucky as it rejected in the first place. I have seen some horrid scars from rejections.


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I had my conch done on the Friday and it hurt getting it done quite a lot but before ou know it it’s over and you can’t even feel it or recognise it’s there, it didn’t hurt the whole of the weekend and then I slept on it by accident on Sunday night and Monday morning it was really hurting and all of Monday because what no one seems to tell you is weather or not you sleep on it the conch does swell and hurt a little bit but on the Tuesday it’s feeling better but it still gets to catch my hair on it. If you want it done and think it looks cute my best advice it to go for it the pain is bearable.
I have just gotten both of my tragus’s done. It is definitely more painful then the lobe, but for me it only stung for a second, then it felt completely fine. As for a price you can usually find a tattoo place that does $20 Tuesday’s for each piercing (including the jewelry)
Reply 12
I paid £20 total for a pair of conch piercings. It healed up quickly and looks super cute

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