Conch Piercing Information & Aftercare Guide

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced client, a conch piercing is a perfect option if you’re looking for your first non-earlobe or cartilage piercing. First, piercers love to perform conch piercings because they’re relatively easy to heal and work on virtually all anatomies. Second, almost every type of available jewelry looks good in a conch.

If you’re considering getting a conch piercing, read our guide to learn more about the placement options, jewelry options, cost, aftercare, and more.

What Is a Conch Piercing?

A conch piercing is a piercing of the ear cartilage. There are two types of conch piercings: an inner conch and an outer conch. The anatomical name for the inner conch is “concha,” which is what the piercing gets its name from.

Types of Conch Piercings

Inner Conch Piercing

An inner conch piercing goes through the deepest part of your ear cartilage, just above the earlobe in the bowl-shaped part of the ear. While it is anatomy-dependent, rarely someone doesn’t have the proper anatomy for one. Ear pinning surgery is one possible reason why you may not be able to get this piercing, but there aren’t many others.

Outer Conch Piercing

An outer conch piercing, also known as a contraconch, high conch, or snonch (a portmanteau created by blending snug and conch), goes through the thick ridge of cartilage above where an inner conch would be placed. Unlike the inner conch piercing, the outer conch is extremely anatomy-dependent, and it is possible your ear’s anatomy may not suit it. Additionally, this type of conch piercing offers less versatility regarding suitable jewelry. If you’re interested in wearing a hoop in a conch piercing, then an inner conch is what you’re looking for.

Double Conch Piercing

A double conch piercing is two conch piercings stacked horizontally or vertically. How you can stack them will depend on your specific anatomy and other piercings you may have.

What Types of Jewelry Can You Wear In a Conch Piercing?

It’s a good idea to know what type of jewelry you intend to wear in your piercing before you go to get pierced. This is because the type of jewelry you want will affect the placement of the piercing.

The different types of conch piercing jewelry include:

 

• Hoops and rings: Conch piercings allow you to choose from various hoops and rings, including seamless rings, hinged segment rings, circular barbells, and captive bead rings. If you want to wear a hoop, let your piercer know, as they will need to place the piercing further out towards the edge of the ear and ensure it will lay naturally. Another thing to note is that some piercers prefer that you heal the piercing with a stud and switch to a hoop or ring once it's fully healed. Others may allow you to get pierced with a hoop or ring, but it will be at a larger gauge and typically a captive bead ring rather than a snug-fitting hinged segment or seamless ring.
• Studs: If you want to wear a stud, you can choose from threadless or internally threaded flatback studs. These are also commonly referred to as labret studs but can be worn in multiple types of piercings besides a labret. The best part of labret studs is you can buy one properly fitting post and multiple ends to switch out to match your outfit or overall look. Ends range from singular gemstones to gemstone clusters, objects like a bee or bat, simple stamped metal discs, and more. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors as well.
• Straight Barbells: In addition to studs, straight barbells are also an option to wear in your conch. Just like with studs, straight barbells allow you to customize the ends to match the exact look you’re going for. The only difference is that instead of the back of the jewelry being flat, it will be some sort of end design or bead.

Conch Piercing Pain: How Much Does It Hurt?

A conch piercing does go through pretty thick cartilage. Therefore, it is on the more painful side. However, if you can handle stubbing your toe, you can handle getting a conch piercing.

Conch Piercing Healing Time

Because a conch piercing is located deeper in your ear, it is somewhat protected, and therefore, the average healing time is between four and six months. However, if you’re sleeping on the piercing or practicing improper aftercare, it can take up to a year to fully heal.

When Can I Change My Conch Jewelry?

This will depend on how fast your body heals the piercing and the type of jewelry you were initially pierced with. If you were pieced with a stud or barbell, your initial jewelry will be longer to accommodate swelling and inflammation. Therefore, you must downsize your piercing after about 4 to 6 weeks. However, you will need to downsize to a shorter post, which shouldn’t be when you switch from a stud or barbell to a ring.

If you want to change your jewelry from a stud to a ring, it’s best to wait until your piercing is fully healed, which typically takes four to six months.

Conch Piercing Aftercare

While a conch is relatively easy to heal so long as you practice proper aftercare, there are things you will need to avoid while the piercing is healing.

First, you shouldn’t wear any in-the-ear headphones or earbuds, as the added pressure on the piercing can irritate and prolong the healing. You also want to avoid getting shampoo in the piercing while washing your hair, so take extra caution while you shower.

You also want to avoid sleeping on the piercing. While an inner conch piercing is pierced deeper within the bowl of the ear, an easy way to avoid sleeping on the healing piercing is to use a round travel pillow. Simply place your ear in the middle of the pillow where it isn’t touching anything, and it will still support your head.

Lastly, you want to avoid swimming in any public bodies of water. This includes swimming pools, hot tubs, beaches, lakes, rivers, jacuzzis, and more. The water can carry bacteria that could get into your healing piercing fistula and cause an infection. To be safe, avoid swimming until the piercing is fully healed.

How to Clean a Conch Piercing

You will need to clean your piercing at least twice a day. To do this, spray it with saline solution, like the kind sold by NeilMed or H2Ocean, and pat dry with a paper towel. You must ensure you get all the crusties off the piercing. Do not use Q-tips because the cotton can fray and get stuck in the healing piercing. Instead, a toothpick or plastic dental pick works great. You can have a family member or friend help you if you can’t easily see the crusties on the back of your ear.

Remember, you shouldn’t touch your piercing or the jewelry before you wash your hands with unscented antimicrobial soap. 

FAQ

What Gauge Is a Conch Piercing?

Conch piercings are typically performed at 16 or 14-gauge. However, if you’re initially pierced with a hoop or ring instead of a stud or barbell, it may be done at a 12 or 10-gauge.

What’s the Difference Between Orbital Piercing vs. Conch?

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation on the internet, and there are diagrams of different ear piercings that mistakenly label a conch piercing as an orbital piercing. Due to this, there’s a lot of confusion about the difference between a conch piercing and an orbital.

The easiest way to discern between the two is that a conch piercing goes through a singular hole in the conch, whereas an orbital piercing goes through two holes in the ear.

How Much Is a Conch Piercing?

Prices vary between shops and piercers. Generally, you will pay a service or needle fee plus the cost of jewelry. Service or needle fees can range from $30 and up. Jewelry will range from around $45 and up, with more intricate or elaborate jewelry costing more than simplistic or plain jewelry. You can also tip your piercer. While it’s never mandatory, it is appreciated, and generally, a 20% tip is acceptable.