Talk:Rook (piercing)

message: No one really seems to care about this article, so I went ahead and did a massive overhaul.  Previously there were only 3 sentences; one of which was a poor generalization presented as fact (referring to how painful the piercing is) and another was simply incorrect (stating that rooks "normally" migrate).
So I added a lot of stuff to consitute a real article.  Information on the origin, how the piercing is done, information on aftercare, typical jewelry worn, and possible complications with reasons.  There are no sources, much of this is information I've gathered from reading other people's experiences, talking to others about their experience, speaking with piercers about the procedure, and my own experience regarding the rook piercing.
I also changed the main picture.  It just isn't typical of what a rook piercing looks like on most people.  The previous picture featured a fairly flat ridge making the piercing look nearly parallel to the head.  Although this is certainly possible, most people have a ridge with a much more pronounced top and bottom, making jewelry appear to be worn "vertically," perpendicular to the head.  Part of the uniqueness and appeal of the rook is its unconventional orientation.  Further down I also threw in a picture with a curved barbell simply to illustrate what another type of jewelry in the piercing looks like.  Out of hundreds of pictures of rook piercings I've seen, 99% of them either have a CBR or curved barbell inserted.
If anyone would like to change the info or even the pictures, I'm fine with that as long as they are better than what I've offered and aren't a regression to the sparse article from before with an atypical example of what most people's rook piercings look like.
Patrick of J (talk) 08:03, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
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message: Pain is pretty subjective, 10 minutes of reading up on rook piercing experiences will yeild about 50/50 in terms of "hurt REALLY bad" and "felt like most other cartilage piercings."  Regardless of this, the amount of cartilage being pierced has nothing to do with the pain one experiences.  The concentration of nerve endings in a given area is what ultimately determines how much pain most people are likely to feel.  The tragus, for example, is quite a bit thicker than the area of the rook piercing on most people, and it is considered one of the least painful areas of cartilage to have pierced due to a relative lack of nerve endings.  I myself do not have any knowledge of how many nerve endings are in this area, but I do have 3 cartilage piercings in 3 different areas, one of those being the rook piercing.  
Another reason why the rook piercing is considered painful is due to its rising popularity.  It wasn't until the early to mid 2000s that many of these exotic cartilage piercings began making their way into popular culture.  As procedures like this make their way from the hardcore modders to the fringe of the mainstream, younger generations adopt these trends and suddenly there's a wave of teenagers and college students having this piercing done and subsequently telling a lot of people about it.  It is not to say that something such as a rook piercing is less painful to the 40 year old who's been modding his body for 20 years than it is for the 15 year old girl with 1 set of earrings, but rather that the less vocal or less seen subset of people interested in a particular mod are more used to the pain of needles, what to expect, etc. than the younger, more vocal, more prominent crowd who are having a needle shoved through cartilage for the first time.  
I think about the only conclusive thing to say in this article without any verifiable research is that "some people consider this piercing extremely painful."  
I wish whoever typed up these articles on body mods knew more about it and took the time to actually read about/talk to people who have had these things done.  Anyway, the rook piercing doesn't "normally" have a tendency to migrate.  Migration is as possible as it is in any other piercing; there is nothing specific to this area that increases this likelihood.  The fact of the matter is that there is a multitude of horror stories regarding the rook piercing either because the procedure isn't done professionally or because people simply don't have the correct anatomy for a viable piercing and either pushed to have it done anyway, or again, had an incompetent piercer that did not know any better.  A lot of people intend to wear a CBR in this area immediately and this can be problematic as the body attempts to form a fistula due to the curvature of the CBR.  The best option is having a curved barbell inserted at the time of the piercing, and to keep this jewelry in until primary healing has taken place.  The curved barbell puts much less stress on the healing piercing and thus leads to fewer complications and a healthier long-term fistula.
Patrick of J (talk) 06:19, 16 October 2012 (UTC)
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