If you’re thinking about getting a helix piercing and wondering “is helix piercing dangerous?”, you’re in the right place. This article covers what you need to know before getting pierced, what to expect during the process, and how to properly care for your helix piercing afterward.
I recently got two new cartilage piercings, and I want to share everything I’ve learned from my experiences—including one that went very wrong. So is helix piercing dangerous? The answer depends on proper safety precautions.
Before Getting Your Helix Piercing
Age and Consent Requirements
You need to be over 16 to get a piercing without parental consent. When you go to get pierced, you’ll need to show your ID to prove your age. If you’re under 16, you’ll need a parent there to give consent for you.
Booking and Preparation
In my experience, I have not needed to book an appointment. Usually for a lot of places you can just walk in. But you can also call up and potentially book as well.
I would suggest making sure that you’re well hydrated and that you’ve had food beforehand. Just in case you’re the kind of person that faints with pain, it makes sense to look after your body when you’re going to be impaling it.
What to Avoid Before Piercing
If you’re scared of the pain, I really wouldn’t recommend taking any ibuprofen. This thins out your blood a bit, which only makes it more likely that you will bleed when you get pierced. Same goes for alcohol—that thins your blood as well.
Helix Piercing Methods
There are a few different ways that you can get your helix piercing: a needle, a gun, or a device. I most recently had the device done this year.
I have had it said to me that you shouldn’t really use anything but a needle to pierce your ear. It does add a bit of additional trauma which can cause more swelling and makes it hurt a bit more. But personally I’ve had both guns used and I’ve had a needle done, and it hasn’t really made a difference for me.
How Much Does It Cost to Get a Helix Piercing?
The helix piercing cost will depend on where you go. I most recently went to Lovisa and they’re doing free piercings at the moment using their commerce.
Obviously nothing is ever free—you pay for the jewelry and then they will pierce it for free. They will also give you the aftercare for free. It’s a pretty decent deal really. I paid sixty dollars overall to get both of them done.
I found my experience at Lovisa really great. The girls were really accommodating. Any questions I had or things that I wanted to tell them about my experiences with cartilage piercings in the past, they were very open to hearing and took everything that I said on board.
Helix Piercing Jewelry Materials
Places have done this anyway in my experience, but do make sure that if you’re getting pierced they are using proper good quality helix piercing jewelry. This includes surgical steel, gold plated jewelry, or sterling silver.
If you use cheap jewelry you are more at risk of helix piercing infection. Many people ask “is helix piercing dangerous?” and infection from poor quality jewelry is one real risk.
Be sure to make sure that wherever you’re going to get your ears pierced is using the correct materials.
Piercing Legal Waiver
It is worth noting that you’ll be made to sign a waiver wherever you go. This means they won’t be liable if anything goes wrong with your piercing. That’s something worth knowing in advance.
Helix Piercing Vein
The Most Important Safety Check: Veins
This is a huge part about why I’m writing down my experience and answering “is helix piercing dangerous?”. My second ever helix piercing did used to be underneath this top one in my ear, but I had to take it out as they pierced a vein.
I did not know this at first. It was probably about a week before I ended up going back there and being like “something is wrong.” I kept finding that it was bleeding a lot and it was a lot more painful than my last one.
This gets me to an extremely important point: make sure that the person piercing you checks for veins in your ear.
When you’re getting your helix piercing done, they will usually get a pen and dot where you’re going to get it pierced on your ear. Do make sure that before and after they are doing that, they check to make sure that there are not any veins where they will be putting the needle through.
Warning Signs of a Pierced Vein
When I first had this experience where they pierced my vein, something did seem off to me. The first helix piercing that I got done was not as painful as the second one. That was the first sign that something was off.
Secondly, my first one did not bleed at all during my experience. I never had any blood at any stage. That may not be the same for everyone, but the second one bled a lot. This is a sign that they’ve hit a vein.
My ears healed up perfectly now so I wouldn’t worry too much about it or let that put you off. Is helix piercing dangerous? Not if you follow proper safety checks. Obviously I didn’t let it put me off—I have two more now.
It did take me a while to get back to doing it, but honestly that was more so like being lazy and wanting to spend the money than it was actually being worried after my past experience.
Please do make sure very importantly to communicate with your piercer. Tell them any of your concerns. If they don’t go to check with a torch for veins, make sure that they do. It’s a much better option than bleeding and bleeding and you having to take it out.
Are Helix Piercing Painful?
I wouldn’t really say that you could rate the pain on a scale of 1 to 10. Obviously everyone has different pain tolerances. But personally what I would compare it to is probably just like a sharp pinch using your nails. Then it fades away in the same way as that does.
How to Aftercare Helix Piercing
Before you leave they will tell you how to clean it as well. Majority of places will either give you a saline spray to use or have it available for purchase. This way you can easily clean your new piercing.
If not, make sure that you go to a chemist and pick up saline spray. It’s cheap—it’s pretty much just like salt water. But it’s definitely the right thing to use to clean your helix piercing.
How to Clean Your Helix Piercing
The spray that they gave me at Lovisa is called an after piercing solution. The Studex, which is the same brand that they use to do the little piercing things.
Basically I just use a little cotton swab twice a day at least. Just get in and wipe around the piercing. Obviously this will hurt a bit more initially when you first gotten it done. But as you go along it’s fine and it’s just a basic routine that you get into.
I do recommend leaving this by your bathroom sink. Say after you go to the loo you wash your hands, they’re nice and clean, you can clean your helix piercing. Or when you do your teeth is a good time as well. I do recommend that you clean helix piercing at least twice a day.
Don’t Touch Your Helix Piercing
Another key thing to remember is you don’t really want to touch or irritate it too much. Basically the more you leave it alone other than cleaning, the better.
I cannot stress enough: do not touch your piercing without washing your hands first. We know that there is a germy world out there and you do not want those germs getting into a fresh wound. That’s definitely a very important tip to remember.
Helix Piercing Healing Time
A lot of people will tell you a lot of different things. In my experience I have heard 12 weeks is the standard, which is obviously three months. But if you look it up you’ll hear anything from six months to 12 months or whatever.
But really you can’t judge just by looking at it because the piercing will heal from the outside in. So even if it looks like it is okay, it’s probably still healing on the inside. You do need to be careful.
I’ve never had any issues changing earrings when it’s come to the three months mark. Personally I would recommend that that’s fine. But even after that I would make sure that you’re using proper either surgical steel, sterling silver, or gold-plated jewelry. This way if it is still healing at all, it won’t get infected.
Dealing with Swelling and Pain
Personally when I got these ones done, around the three day mark I did have quite a bit of swelling and it was hurting a bit. Just to counteract that you can take some ibuprofen.
I didn’t have any bleeding from like thinning blood or anything like that from taking it. It definitely helped with the swelling and with the throbbing pain that I was getting a bit.
Also if you want to ice your ear to take the swelling down, that’s a good idea as well. Make sure that you wrap it in paper towel so it’s sterile. And wash your hands before you do so. I definitely recommend those things if you are finding that it’s a little bit painful or swollen. Especially a few days after you’ve gotten it done.
Helix Piercing and Sleeping
Can You Sleep on a Helix Piercing?
I’m at roughly the two week mark now and I find that I can touch it quite a bit and it doesn’t really hurt. But I’m definitely still not sleeping on it.
This gets me into my next very important point: you should not be sleeping on your piercing.
Whether you’ve got both lobes done or you’ve gotten one at the top on one side, do not sleep on your side. It will affect the way that it heals and also it will hurt.
How to Sleep with a Helix Piercing
The Travel Pillow Solution
I do have a rather reasonable solution for you though if you feel that you cannot sleep without sleeping on your side which your piercing is. And that is a travel pillow.
This is the first time that I’ve had a piercing and that I thought of this idea. Honestly it has been an absolute godsend.
Basically I’ve just been putting the travel pillow on top of my pillow. My ear goes through the middle and I don’t have to worry about being directly on it, it hurting or healing weird or anything like that.
It’s honestly been the best being able to sleep properly. The first few nights when I hadn’t thought of this idea yet, I was having a lot of trouble sleeping. I was tossing and turning and trying to figure out how to get comfortable because I was so used to sleeping on this side.
But after thinking of this idea I have had the best night’s sleep and it has been absolutely no issue at all. If you’ve gotten a piercing and you can’t sleep properly, it fixes everything.
Should I Twist My Helix Piercing?
This is a question that everyone asks and everyone has heard a lot in relation to piercings. Do you or don’t you twist it?
I think that comes down to the fact that we like to play with our piercings. You should not do this when it is healing.
However I’m not gonna lie, I play with this top one all the time. Obviously I don’t have any issues because it has already healed.
Final verdict to this question: no, do not twist it. At least within the first two weeks of it healing you don’t want to irritate it. You don’t want to get any germs in there.
But if you are going to twist it, I would recommend that you make sure it is wet. You’ve been using your saline solution so that it doesn’t get too irritated and it’s already lubricated before you’re turning it.
However if it comes to fiddling with it in the middle of the day and you have dirty hands, please do not touch it. You are only going to increase your chances of infection, which we do not want.
Final Thoughts
o is helix piercing dangerous? With proper care, the answer is no. If you do decide to get a helix piercing, please do make sure to look after it. It does take that extra bit of care than your earlobes.
Just remember to keep it clean, don’t touch it too much, and you will be right as rain.
The key things to remember:
- Make sure your piercer checks for veins
- Use proper jewelry materials (surgical steel, sterling silver, or gold-plated)
- Clean twice daily with saline solution
- Don’t sleep on your new piercing
- Avoid touching it with unwashed hands
- Give it at least 12 weeks to heal before changing jewelry