I got my cartilage pierced yesterday, and I took notice that the cartilage on the very top of my ear is bruised. Is that normal? She used a gun to pierce my ear, if that helps any.

i think any mutilation to the body should come with an expectation for some extraneous damage. ^_^ as long as the bruise doesn't get bigger, i'd say you are ok!

Lol, alright. It's fairly small, but I was still wondering. It's immediately above where the piercing is, so I guess that's to be expected?

i wouldn't worry about it, for real. i really just think the surrounding skin area got a bit of damage. the skin is so thin there.

For future reference you should never have your cartilage piercing with a gun. It's far too tramautic on the body. Go to a real piercer that uses a needle only next time.

Yep, to agree with Jessyta, piercers that really know what they're doing wouldn't use a gun on cartilage, i think because it's harder than normal skin or something. It should be fine though, but that's probably what caused it.

Never get a piercing with a gun again. I got one at Claires two or three years ago, it was the worst mistake I ever made. My body tried rejecting the piercing and what ended up happening was they used too small of a stud and it got lodged in my ear for a week. We had to get a pair of pliers to pull it out because the back of the earring couldn't be taken off.

Guns aren't as sanitary, they cause more tissue damage, and are usually used by people with little training (only a few weeks of training on a teddy bear is what I've heard).

One of my friends told me that piercing cartilage with a gun can shatter it? Not sure, but everyone else here seems to agree that it was a no-no. XD

Google search seems to confirm that bruising is normal. :)

The bruise is going away, as well as the pain from getting it caught on my hair or other random times that it gets caught on something.

I think it'll be fine =)

Cleaning with antiseptic in the morning, cleaning with alcohol at night, turning it twice a day, keeping my hair away from it, making sure the clasp isn't too tight, etc.

(I saw how a regular needle is used to pierce a cartilage...I think I would've passed out if I were to get it done that way.)

Gun + Cartilage = DANGER

NEVER ever do it again. It can cause a massive amount of damage to your ear.

Cartilage does take a very long time to heal too, and you my get a few issues with swelling, but keep with it, clean it every day and it should be okay.

I got one years ago which is healed fine now, but it was done with a needle, and I got another too but more recent which still hasn't healed perfect and it has been 8 months.