Contact sports + ear piercing

Food?

I have my cartilage on my left ear pierced, it's about three-four months old. There's a huge dodgeball club here at my university, and I've gone to a few practices and stuff, it's pretty nice. I'm considering joining the actual team (which travels to colleges in our region to play), but the chances of me getting hit in my earring are much more likel (note: it hurts bad enough when someone accidentally hits it with a pillow or their hand or something). Can I take it out for a few hours and be fine? If that's not a good idea, what's the best way to tape/cusion it?

SuperSweetie

Well, as for me, I think I would chance taking it out instead of trying to cushion it. Theres always a chance that it will get ripped out and that wouldnt be good. I always removed mine for cheerleading practice and things, but to be honest it hurt like a bitch trying to put it back in.

I had my ear pierced that way for almost a year and a half, and i STILL couldnt even lay in bed with my ear against my pillow. Mine never did get any better, so finally I took it out and let it grow up.

Now I stick with just having my earlobes pierced, and my belly button and my tongue. I have no problem at all with those piercings.

Food?

Yeah I can sleep on it no problem, the only thing wrong with it is that it still hurts when it's hit, and there's a little bump around the whole thing.

SuperSweetie

Yeah, thats the same way mine was and that little bump never did go away for me. A lot of my friends have it done though, and they never did have any problems at all with theirs. I think with this piercing it needs to be done in exactly the right spot, in order for it to do as it needs too. I love cartilage piercings though, so hopefully you can find a good way to protect it in this thread, if so, I just may give it another try.

supertall

Guys on my volleyball team who had piercings near the top of their ear's just put some athletic tape over them, folded in half over the ear. I don't know how much it'll stop it from hurting, but it should keep it from getting ripped out.

drxand?

i hear varying reports as to how long it takes to fully heal, so my guess has been this is all a per person basis

i have one in the left cart. done by safety pin around 3-4 months ago as well - mine hurts slightly still, but its pretty much healed and i can lay on it with usually no trouble.. sometimes it slightly hurts, but i figured it was only because it was newish and still healing.

however, since mine was done in an unprofessional fashion (even though i made sure everything was super cleased with isopropl alchohol and cleaned it afterwards daily with sea salt for quite a while) i'm suprised it healed so nicely with no infection.

what kind of jewelry in it do you have?
i originally had a 18g stud but decided to switch/gauge up to a 16g barbell, and personally i like the barbell an awful lot more than the gemstone, since it screws on its a lot more secure and i just think it looks nicer overall personally.

as for dodgeball i doubt it would get ripped out regardless of the type of jewelry, but the proper shot to the ear might make it hurt fairly bad.

Food?

It's a ring (one of the ones with a little ball on it), and I'm pretty sure it's an 18 gauge.

This actually brings me to another question. How exactly do I take it out? I assumed the ball was something I could twist and unscrew, but I can't get it to budge. I tugged on it slightly in both directions and it didn't seem to move then either.

drxand?

yeah it should unscrew like you thought it would, it must be stuck?
righty tighty-lefty loosey?

maybe ask someone to try and get it off, it sometimes can be easier with a seperate pair of hands/eyes, at least for me anyway

coma white

you don't unscrew those balls. they just have little indents on either side of them and the hoop sort of pinches in it. just get your thumbnails sort of in between the ball and hoop on either side and push a bit and the ball pops out. just don't let it go flying, because they're a fucking bitch to find once they hit the ground.

SuperSweetie

drxand? wrote:

yeah it should unscrew like you thought it would, it must be stuck?
righty tighty-lefty loosey?

maybe ask someone to try and get it off, it sometimes can be easier with a seperate pair of hands/eyes, at least for me anyway

I agree with the above. It was always easier for me to let someone else take it out for me. I was always nervous when I tried, not to mention it hurt, so I would tend to slow down or stop. It was a lot easier having someone else take it out for me.

drxand?

coma's probably right about the indents, doh

Trillian

Food? wrote:

It's a ring (one of the ones with a little ball on it), and I'm pretty sure it's an 18 gauge.

This actually brings me to another question. How exactly do I take it out? I assumed the ball was something I could twist and unscrew, but I can't get it to budge. I tugged on it slightly in both directions and it didn't seem to move then either.

If it's dodgeball, it'll stand very little chance of getting ripped out. I've had mine done for the past...4-5 years now, and have had no problems at all with any sport. it's hard to hook in to at the best of times, and nearly impossible unless you're playing a contact sport or are...like...jousting or something. What I'd be worried most about is getting hit with a ball and your ear hurting like mad. What you could always do is tape it up to the side of your head if you're worried about getting it torn.