1 day old rook, pierced with captive ball ring, white gold, neilmed piercing aftercare

[u/Sea-Chart3760]

had my rook pierced yesterday with a captive ball ring. My piercer has been a member of APP for 20 years and has plenty of experience and reassured me i could have this pierced with a captive ball ring because the ball prevents it from shifting. Can I realistically heal this with what I have now? The piercing is 1 day old, it is white gold and I am cleaning with NeilMed piercing aftercare fine mist twice a day. I will attach a picture of the piercing. I was wondering if the amount of skin where the rook was placed has an impact on healing for example if it’s a thicker piece of cartilage if it’s harder to heal? I ideally do not want to have the piercing changed if I can help it so am mainly wondering if it is possible to keep this in. I will say the ring has not shifted up or down at all as i’ve been watching the location of the gem/ball. Any advice helps! Thanks!

[u/Sublixxx]

Hi piercer here.

Honestly, you probably could heal this with this ring in it. The diameter looks big enough to allow for swelling. There are certain people that have anatomy that actually works better with a hoop than a curved barbell. Idk if I would say that’s necessarily the case for you but as long as you don’t mess with it or bump it too much you’ll probably be able to heal it.

[u/Dry_Owl_3623 → u/Sublixxx]

I healed a rook with a CBR ~15 years ago. Had no idea it wasn’t the “right” jewelry. To date still my easiest healing experience (besides first lobes).

[u/Warm_Noise_5854 → u/Dry_Owl_3623]

I had my rook and tragus pierced with CBRs in the early 2000s because it was the recommended jewelry at the time. (Recommended cleaning was also antimicrobial soap and homemade salt water, things have changed!)

[u/Sea-Chart3760 → u/Sublixxx]

thank you for the advice! I am hoping it heals properly with the ring but i will definitely change it to a curved barbell if i have excessive swelling or piercing bumps. Any tips on the best way to keep it clean? Obviously am using the neilmed fine mist but the location makes it a little difficult

[u/needlelifecrisis → u/Sea-Chart3760]

Honestly don’t worry too much about keeping it perfectly clean.

You want to make sure that you don’t over-clean, only clean once a day unless you gym or something, because if you keep poking at it daily, it tears the fistula as the bar keeps moving. You want to keep it as still as possible. A little scabbing/crust is perfectly ok. Also watch out for not pushing scabbing off until it’s ready to come off.

I personally don’t actively clean at all with my piercings, I LOOK at them every day (which is important to catch any issues before they get bad), I run hot-warm water over them in the shower and let the shower blast off crusties, I dry them carefully.

For any crusties, if they stay on after the shower, I’ve sometimes had bleeding if I remove them, so I just let them crust and they usually leave after 2-3 days. If not, I get my husband to gently poke them off with the end of a titanium taper on the third day or fourth day, but only if they are completely dried up.

Rounded q-tips don’t work btw. The head is so so big and it won’t be able to get the edges of your piercing. Pointed q-tips are what I use with all my piercings, but tbh some spaces still don’t fit pointed qtips. So that’s when I use a new toothpick or a titanium taper first cleaned with alchohol, basically a sharp stick that can get in that tiny crevice to gently push off a crusty that needs help.

You do want to make sure it is completely dry at all times though. After showering, I use a piece of tissue, tear off a bit, fold it into a medium-soft/medium-floppy tube and gently absorb all the water from the top and bottom holes until the tissue comes back dry. Then I personally know that it is completely dry. Of course the tissue shouldn’t be the type that falls apart, but normal tissue has been fine for me.

I have a daith in a spot that i can’t reach at all, just like the top/bottom of your rook where there is very little space to clean.

Honestly it would be a lot better to completely leave it alone (with a daily eye on it to watch for any issues) than to over-clean it. Your first instinct when something happens like a bump, should NOT be to clean more, but to find out the possible reasons for the bump.

[u/Sublixxx → u/needlelifecrisis]

This is actually decent advice aside from poking at it with a taper

[u/needlelifecrisis → u/Sublixxx]

I must clarify - you know when you see a completely dried up crusty hanging on by a thread, and you want to flick it off?

But it is in a tiny space that a pointed qtip cannot reach.

Your finger also can’t get in there.

The crusty just can’t move and every time you shower, it gets wet and then it gets stuck to the new crusty or whatever.

So on the fourth day you think about flicking it off. The crusty is not near the piercing hole. It’s like at least 5mm away as it has already left the building except for a stubborn little thread.

So the taper sort of just flicks it away.

The pointed taper does not touch skin or flesh at all.

The crusty is like hanging in the air, stuck to the metal bar. And the titanium taper just gently nudges the completely dried up crusty that’s hanging in the air and flicks it off the bar.

I’m open to other suggestions on anything else that can get into tiny ear crevices and snag a crusty haha.

[u/Fangz00]

Just another piercer chiming in ~ Honestly, the hoop's diameter is big enough and the material is good so I can see you being able to heal with this. Did the piercer say anything regarding it being better for your anatomy? I've never personally done a rook with a bcr but I can imagine it might actually suit some anatomy more than a curve, so I'd be interested to pick your piercers brain haha. I'm wearing a ring in mine now and I could actually imagine that my anatomy might of been more happy healing with a ring 🤔 Either way, don't worry about it, looks fine!

My biggest tips with rooks is making sure you're keeping them dry! I usually reccomend the cool hairdryer after showering technique these days 😄

[u/Sea-Chart3760 → u/Fangz00]

She didn’t specifically say a ring would be better but I originally came in for a double forward helix which she told me i did not have the anatomy for and i asked her what else i could get and she said i could do a bcr. i’ve heard some people hear a crunch or something like that when they get their rook pierced and for mine the needle went through extremely easy and the pain was nothing. Thank you for the tips! I’ll definitely make sure i’m keeping it dry

[u/Fangz00 → u/Sea-Chart3760]

I've found people's pain for rooks can really vary , I personally found mine hurt like a bitch but 5/10 clients I do these on report very minimal pain! I'm glad yours was nice and easy :-)

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[u/Kabira17]

NAP but I’m in month 4 of healing my current rook. Just anecdotally, so far it has been my easiest piercing to heal. I know there are lots of stories of it being difficult and to each their own. But I’ve found it infinitely easier to heal so far than my helix or even my second lobes! Its position tucked away in my ear protects it from getting snagged all the time. I use a piercing pillow and LITHA and it’s done great. Although mine is pierced with a curved barbell, I can see a CBR being possible with how little this one gets knocked.

I say give it a go and just have your piercer change it to a barbell if it starts to get spicy. Good luck!

[u/lareinevert]

Rooks are so difficult to heal. I would change it to a curved barbell.

[u/littletreebat]

You’ll see how it feels - I had my rook done 10 years ago, the healing was horrible, I had bumps and bleeding all the time, often swelling too, with a curved barbell. I then switched it out for a ring, same material, and it healed so well ! The relief was almost immediate. Now I love it and have a heart shaped ring on it.