Before we discuss some important facts about cartilage piercing execution and safety, let's first discuss what cartilage piercing involves, and what cartilage actually is. It makes sense that before you have part of your body pierced with a needle or a gun, you should understand what tissue is involved so you can better understand the recommendations that will be made here.

Here, we shall discuss:

• The nature of cartilage tissue

• Types of cartilage in your ears

• How cartilage should be pierced and cleanliness

• Cartilage jewellery available

1. The Nature of Cartilage Tissue

Cartilage is formed from a group of proteins known as collagen, used to generate connective tissue that your biochemistry manufactures to use in forming your skin, veins and arteries, ears, nose and the protective cartilage layers used as shock absorbers in your joints. Cartilage also contains elastin, a protein that adds elasticity, flexibility and shock-absorbing properties to cartilage. What cartilage does not contain is a blood supply, the importance of which will become apparent later.

2. Types of Cartilage in Your Ears

The cartilage in your ears is basically the same all over, with a relatively high proportion of elastin in comparison to the joints, but lower than that in the skin. The ear can be split into a number of areas with respect to ear cartilage piercing. The major divisions are:

a) The Helix: this is the cartilage of the outside rim of the ear, and folds over inwards as part of the canal that directs sound into the middle ear. This is where you tend to see multiple piercings and rings and that lies just above:

b) The Conch: so called because of its shell-like shape. It forms most of the bulbous part of the ear you see from the back, and is generally pierced for larger rings and barbells.

c) The Tragus: the oval or triangle of thick cartilage at the bottom entrance to the ear next to the cheekbone and next to the lobe. This is a very popular for cartilage piercing and is used for tragus bars or studs - fairly thick and will normally need at least a 6 mm shaft.

There are also subdivisions of these areas of your ear cartilage you may hear about including:

d) The Anti-Tragus: the ridge of hard cartilage opposite the tragus lying just above the ear lobe. Often too small in some people for jewellery, but in others it can accommodate a small barbell or micro-stud.

e) The Rook: put your finger inside the top part of your helix, right at the top of your ear. Run your finger down towards your temple till it hits a barrier and stops - to the other side of your anti-tragus. That's the rook, and will hold a shaped barbell.

f) The Daith: pronounced 'doth', this ridge is right beneath the Rook, between that and your ear canal. You can again fit a small barbell here.

g) The Snug: Put your finger on the middle of helix, or outside ridge of your ear. Run it in towards the ear canal - it will come off the outer curl and hit a hard ridge - that's the snug, and is good for bars and even studs, though bars will show up more prominently.

These are the various areas of cartilage in your ears for piercings. Now just a few words on safety factors:

3. Cartilage Piercing Safety

It is important that cartilage piercings are carried out using a needle and not a gun. The tissue is too rubbery and elastic for a piercing gun that will tear it and not form a clean hole. In fact, a gun can cause lasting or even permanent damage and the shattered cartilage can disfigure your ear. A needle will enable you to fit in ear jewellery with the minimum of damage.

Because cartilage contains no blood vessels, your immune system cannot heal any damage directly, and will take a long time until the antibodies and other components of your immune system reaches the site of the piercing. By then most of the damage will have been done.

Healing can take from two months up to a year in some cases, and you should keep your ears clean using a salt solution or a proprietary antiseptic designed specifically for ear piercings. Do not remove the jewellery unless necessary, because the hole can close rapidly due to the elastic nature of the type of cartilage in your ears.

4. Cartilage Jewellery Available

The most common type of cartilage jewellery are bars and rings. Rings are commonly used on the outside part of the ear - the helix as described above. Bars are used in the smaller internal ridges such as the rook, daith and snug, where they can be straight or curved, as the ear geometry permits.

Tragus bars are commonly used on the tragus, although many also use studs, which are also appropriate for the rook, depending how accessible it is. It differs between individuals. An industrial piercing, or scaffold, involves a piercing at either side of the helix, with a bar passing over the gap and fixed at either end. You can use multiple industrial piercings to form an ear cage!