Pillar guide
Placements & Anatomy
Every ear piercing placement, one page each: where it sits on the ear, what it feels like, how long it really takes to heal, whether your anatomy can support it, and which jewellery suits it while healing and after. Cartilage placements vary far more than most guides admit — several are genuinely anatomy-dependent.
If you're planning several placements as one composition, read these alongside what order to get ear piercings in — or let the planner sequence them for you.
What is a lobe piercing?
A lobe piercing passes through the soft, fleshy lower part of the ear — the only common ear placement with no cartilage involved.
What is a helix piercing?
A helix piercing sits anywhere along the upper outer rim of ear cartilage.
What is a forward helix piercing?
A forward helix piercing sits on the rim of cartilage just above the tragus, where the ear meets the face.
What is a flat piercing?
A flat piercing sits in the plate of flat cartilage inside the upper rim of the ear, between the helix and the rook.
What is a conch piercing?
A conch piercing passes through the thick cartilage of the ear's centre bowl.
What is a tragus piercing?
A tragus piercing passes through the small cartilage tab that sits in front of the ear canal.
What is an anti-tragus piercing?
An anti-tragus piercing passes through the small cartilage ridge that rises just above the earlobe, opposite the tragus.
What is a rook piercing?
A rook piercing passes through the fold of cartilage on the antihelix, the ridge above the ear's inner bowl.
What is a daith piercing?
A daith piercing passes through the innermost fold of cartilage above the ear canal.
What is an industrial piercing?
An industrial piercing is two helix piercings connected by one straight bar across the upper ear.