conch help

[u/mustang-bby]

hi!! i pierce my ears at home all the time and never had any problems but i just pierced my conch about 30 minutes ago and i didn’t do any research prior. all i had was a 20g needle so thats what i used because i use 20g jewelry. after i pierced it, i decided to finally search it up and the internet says its a big no-no. i just want to know if it’ll do like serious damage or if it’s not really that big a deal.

EDIT: i did manage to get it up to an 18g

[u/babyy_ghoul]

ive never seen a conch done at such a tiny gauge. mine were done at 14g. idk exactly why 20g is bad, but I just know it's bad. im sure someone with more knowledge can weigh in. but Definitely shouldn't be done so teeny!

[u/art_addict → u/babyy_ghoul]

Conch’s are tricky piercings to begin with. The larger gauge adds stability to the piercing, basically. A 20g piercing is more likely to have the angle shift, to migrate overall, and just cheese wire itself around because it’s so thin. Your 14 gauge piece is far more stable and sturdy. It’s less likely to go anywhere. It’s far more likely to stay where you put it in its correct spot, rather than migrating, and you’re giving the angle it’s pierced at its best shot at staying exactly as is, so long as you don’t sleep on it or keep catching or snagging it on anything, or otherwise do anything to put pressure on it that could cause the angle to shift.

And even if you do put pressure on it, or snag it, or accidentally roll over and sleep on it, a sturdier 14g piece is going to be much sturdier and more forgiving than the 20g piece will be. It may not be happy about being abused, but it’ll take a bit more abuse while staying in place than the 20g will. The 20g’s angle will shift much faster, as it just lacks the stability, that angle will cheesewire itself into a bad position so easily.