Most likely, when you consider a cartilage piercing, you picture the widely recognized helix piercing. It’s simple to mistake the helix piercing for other piercing kinds, such as the auricle or conch cartilage piercings because it’s located in the top cartilage of the ear.

You should consider carefully where you want your helix piercing to be situated before seeing your piercer because your top cartilage provides a large playground for piercings. Your piercer will be able to offer advice, but ultimately, the position of your helix piercing will depend on your particular desire.

Even while ear piercings often heal quickly, cartilage heals differently than softer skin, so you must follow all instructions carefully to prevent issues. Particularly the ear cartilage is prone to unusual scarring, and in severe cases, damage from a cartilage piercing can result in permanent ear deformities, such as cauliflower ear.

Don’t let this make you afraid of getting this adorable piercing! This is all the information you want on the helix piercing.

Does A Helix Piercing Hurt?

In general, cartilage piercings are not particularly painful. You may have a tiny pinch depending on where the helix piercing is located, but nothing more than that. The helix piercing location has very thin cartilage, therefore the procedure is completed rapidly.

After the piercing, you may have some aching, swelling, and little bleeding for a few days. These symptoms are typical in moderation. See a doctor if you have these symptoms frequently.

It’s crucial to observe your cartilage piercing while it heals and prevents you from adjusting the jewelry since cartilage piercings are prone to issues including cartilage lumps. Unlike soft skin, cartilage heals differently, and healing can readily cause injury to it.

Healing Time After Helix Piercing

More so than other piercings, cartilage piercings have different healing time frames. Anticipate a 3 to 6-month recuperation period. Before altering your jewelry or ceasing aftercare procedures, consult your piercer because everyone is unique and the helix has a broad variety of healing time frames.

Guidelines for Aftercare

The helix piercing necessitates specific precautions to prevent things like cartilage lumps or scarring because of the problems that might occur after healing. Here are a few things to remember as you recover.

While you clean, use caution. You should take a salt bath or saline soak two to three times each day, just as with any healing piercing. So while cleaning a helix piercing, take additional care not to move the jewelry around too much.

Shifting the jewelry might harm the skin nearby and leave behind rough scars. Hold a cotton ball snugly against your piercing while soaking it in saline for three to five minutes. Once the soak is finished, gently wipe the area with a paper towel to dry it.

Dry off the piercing. Every new piercing has to be protected from moisture, but cartilage piercings require extra care. If you don’t take care to completely dry the piercing after it has been exposed to fluids, it might become infected since bacteria are attracted to the wetness.

Infected cartilage can develop into cartilage lumps, which are hard to remove once they occur. While some cartilage lumps can disappear on their own, the majority need to be medically removed, which frequently results in further scarring.

Keep the jewelry in place. In some parts of the body, cartilage damage is more obvious than skin damage. While moving the jewelry around excessively can cause skin harm in any piercing, cartilage piercings are less forgiving. You should take particular care to avoid moving the jewelry when cleaning your new helix piercing.

As the jewelry is healing, try your best to avoid sleeping on it and keep away from caps or other headgear that might touch or move it. To prevent jewelry movement, it’s a good idea to use a cartilage stud for your initial jewelry.

Use fresh pillows. The amount of germs, dead skin, and other unsavory things that live in your pillows is something you don’t want to know. Take it from us: you should think about getting a new cushion to use while you’re recovering.

Change your pillowcase every night to maintain cleanliness. You can sleep with a clean t-shirt over your pillow each night if you don’t want to keep washing your pillows.

Helix Piercing Jewelry

It’s time to daydream about the jewelry you’ll wear after you’re well enough to wear it once we’ve sufficiently frightened you into following aftercare procedures.

• The position of the helix piercing provides for a tonne of cute jewelry designs, and the piercing itself allows for unlimited originality.
• A straightforward stud is a sweet, understated way to adorn your helix piercing. The top of your ear is adorned with tiny jewels for a sparkling yet understated flare. Also, you may display your personality with adorable charms. You may pick a ball back if you want to adorn both sides of the ear or a flat disc back for a less obvious backing.
• Rings with captive beads look amazing in the helix piercing as well. The best of both worlds is combined when a hoop and a bead are used. Choose from vivid bead alternatives like opals, Baltic amber, or even pearls, or go for a straightforward metal bead.
• Among the most popular helix jewelry designs are hoop earrings. For a clean, understated appearance, seamless hoops work well.
• This design is popular among those who have several ear piercings since it balances out the surrounding jewelry without being too heavy. Moreover, clickers and segment rings provide a seamless appearance in a jewelry design that is a bit simpler to put in the ear.
• Barbells that are curved and round are also excellent choices for helix piercings. These appear to be popular types among those who wear various bead jewelry designs in their ears.
• Only cartilage piercings can use ear cuffs. They give a look that is comparable to the hoop since they wrap around the ear, but they are frequently thicker and more elaborate.
• Larger jewelry items called cartilage shields usually serve as the focal point of your ear jewelry. These gorgeous accessories hang from the ear’s side, protecting a significant amount of your cartilage.

Why should I not get my helix pierced?

When it comes to helix piercing, we’ve discussed extensively cartilage lumps and possible scarring. One bulge to be on the lookout for is keloids. Everywhere that tissue has been injured, keloid scars may develop, although cartilage injury is more likely to cause them to do so.

They are mostly a hereditary problem, and if you acquire a keloid, it will sadly need to be surgically removed, meaning you probably will always have a scar.

The helix piercing is not recommended if you have keloids as a hereditary predisposition. Before getting any piercings, make it important to speak with a doctor; regardless of where you choose to get pierced, it’s conceivable that you might get keloids.

You should probably think carefully before getting a cartilage piercing if you lack self-control when it comes to subconsciously fiddling with new jewelry. As cartilage is more prone to injury, you should avoid handling your jewelry while it is healing.

Helix Piercing Cost

Your helix piercing will probably cost you 500 to 800. The cost of a piercing pistol at a shop will most likely be around 300.

Never get any type of piercing done by a person who utilizes a piercing gun. Never, ever, ever, ever choose a piercing gun for cartilage piercings. Blunt force damage to the cartilage is what causes problems like cauliflower ears.

The precise definition of blunt force trauma is when jewelry is forced through the skin with the use of a piercing gun. Also, piercing weapons are more bacterially contaminated than needles. You must use a needle if you want your cartilage to repair nicely.

Helix Piercing Variations

The top cartilage provides lots of room for helix piercing modifications as if there weren’t already enough options to customize your helix piercing.

The higher cartilage of your ear, where it curves just before joining your temple, is where the forward helix is located. Common cartilage studs with little charms or diamonds are worn on the front helix. When used in conjunction with other helix-piercing designs, it creates a stunning chain of jewelry that encircles the outer ear.

A popular piercing is the double, triple, or even quadruple helix. As you would infer from the name, these designs have several helix piercings along the ear. To create a lengthy chain of jewelry that extends the whole length of the ear, some people choose to combine several helix piercings with auricle, upper lobe, and forward helix piercings.

There isn’t much of a limit to how many piercings you may have along your cartilage; just make sure there is adequate space between the jewelry for safe jewelry changes while maintaining the structural integrity of the ear. It’s a good idea to get each piercing separately if you want many ones so that you just have to worry about one piercing at a time needing to heal.

Frequently Asked Question

1. Will helix pierce close up?

The location of a piercing on your body may also affect the probability that it may heal improperly. For instance, cartilage, helix, and nostril piercings have the propensity to heal more quickly.

2. Does helix piercing hurt?

The outside top rim of your ear’s cartilage is where a helix piercing is placed. Helix piercings are frequently the least painful cartilage piercings since the upper ear’s cartilage is thinner. They hurt around 4-5/10 and take three to six months to completely recover.

3. can helix piercing make you sick?

A more serious infection or an abscess may develop in an untreated infected piercing (a swollen area filled with pus). Infected upper ear piercings are more common. These diseases can spread throughout your body if they are not addressed (called systemic infection).

4. Does helix piercing make you blind?

Sure, although it is extremely uncommon or unlikely to occur with an ear piercing. Very minimal blood vessels or vascularity can be seen in cartilage.

5. Can helix piercing cause dizziness?

Injury to the nerves is the cause of dizziness after piercing.
Contrary to the frequent misconception that having your surface nerves pierced can result in fainting, this symptom is generally caused by the tension and panic that built up before the piercing procedure.

6. Can helix piercing be done with the gun?

Always use a needle to penetrate cartilage. Only soft tissue can be pierced with a piercing cannon; even then, I wouldn’t advise it. Gunshot wounds to cartilage can result in severe hypertrophic scarring and even explode it.

7. How long does helix piercing change?

A helix piercing may usually be changed after two to three months. Don’t wait any longer; doing so opens up a window when you are more likely to catch your piercing, causing you to experience swelling once again and delaying your downsizing.

8. Are helix piercing bumps normal?

Sadly, lumps from cartilage piercings are rather frequent. They could appear quickly after your first piercing or much later, once it has fully healed. Once the initial swelling goes down, if you still have a lump, it can be a pustule, which is a blister or pimple that contains pus.

Also Read: What Everyone Must Know About Ear Lobe Piercing