Inner Conch

The bowl of the ear, nearest the canal. Takes a stud or a large ring.

Gauge
16g
Post while healing
8mm
Post once healed
6mm
Ring diameter
8–12mm
Healing time
6–12 months
Pain
3/5

Pierced 18 months

Works with Stud · Labret · Hoop · Clicker · Seamless ring

If it is fresh or healing

Thick cartilage. A ring here has to clear the whole outer ear, so diameters run larger than anywhere else — 10mm or 12mm, not 8mm.

The anatomy

The conch is the bowl of the ear, named after the shell it resembles. The inner conch is the deeper part, nearest the canal, and it is thick — one of the densest pieces of cartilage on the ear.

If you want a ring here rather than a stud, the geometry is unusual: the ring has to clear the entire outer edge of your ear to close. That is why inner conch diameters run to 10mm and 12mm when almost everywhere else on the ear sits at 8mm. Measure before you buy, or ask your piercer to.

Aftercare

A conch sits exactly where a pillow does. A travel pillow with your ear through the middle is the single most useful thing you can do for it.

Thick cartilage also means slow — do not read a quiet month as finished.

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