For the past – two? three? – days, I’ve been dealing with a bit of soreness from my helix piercing. I got it done back in April, and it healed up perfectly fine; I’ve changed the ring twice and had no problems with it.
Recently, I got some really cool skull earrings. My conch is still healing, so I can’t change that one yet, but I changed out my helix immediately. It was fine for three or four days, and then a couple of days ago it started to hurt.
I asked about this on a piercing forum on BME, suggesting that perhaps the skull weighed more than a plain bead, and I got a few different responses. The first person pointed out that the metal was 316L steel, which is a lower grade than the 316LVM reputable piercers will give you when you first get pierced; he suggested I was having a reaction to that. But I checked out the star ring I’d gotten from the same company, and it’s also 316L, and I had no problems with it. Someone else suggested the ring might have surface damage because “no quality jewelry makers have skull beads.” I asked if surface damage was visible to the eye, detectable by a finger, and could be gotten used to. The guy said you “might or might not” be able to see/feel it, and called me foolish for thinking I could just get used to a damaged ring.
So I’m left with a few ideas on what’s wrong, and only one person suggested a solution: have a piercer adjust a 316LVM ring to fit the skull bead. Not a bad idea, but I’m thinking I’ll just leave it alone for now and see if it gets better. My conch is doing nicely meanwhile; I’ve gotten used to it and I like it now, even if it’s not the industrial I had wanted.