When I was 21, on a dare, I had my upper ear pierced. The top of the ear, where the cartilage is. Like this:
I had this done at Claire's, with the gun. BIG MISTAKE.
Because of how the gun works, rather than going through or pushing the cartilage out, it pushed the cartilage UP into the skin. I didn't notice until a couple days later. So I had this HUGE piece of cartilage under my skin, in the back of my ear. It looked like a hug ZIT...and it hurt.
I finally go fed up with trying to see if it would go away, and took a razor blade to the bump. Made a small incision, and the piece of cartilage popped out. Bled pretty good for a few hours and bandaged it up.
Today you can't see what happened, if you were to look at my ear. But at the time it was a mess.
DON'T go to Claire's. Go somewhere where they use a needle. Ie: Merle Norman or whatever. Don't go to a tattoo parlour. It'll freak her out. Just my 2 cents.
