Ear Piercing

Ear piercing is one of the most commonly accepted types of body piercing, particularly if the piercing is through the ear lobe. Humans have been piercing their ears for millennia - in fact, the oldest known mummified man has his ears pierced with expanded piercings. Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Indians, Africans, Australian aboriginals, Native Americans - all pierced their ears for decorative and ritual purposes. Over the course of the last few centuries, though, ear piercing had slipped into the background in Western society. It reawakened in the early 1960s, along with the hippie generation.

These days, though, we're piercing far more than ear lobes. There are at least six unique places on the ear that can be pierced, including the helix (cartilage around the ear), the tragus (the flap of cartilage near your face), and the conch (the inner shell of the ear). While most people think of piercings through the upper ear as being a relatively easy thing, the truth is that those cartilage piercings can take up to a year to heal properly, and are more prone to complications than any other type of piercing other than the tongue. While upper ear piercings may have started as a counter culture statement of rebellion, they have become among the most socially acceptable types of body piercing, sported by everyone from elementary school teachers to rock stars.