My Experience with the "Daith" Piercing
I noticed the correlation between the piercing of cartilage areas of my ears and a short-term lessening of head pain several years ago before I began seeing posts and memes about the daith (rhymes with moth) piercing being a supposed "cure" for migraines.
Which piercings have given me relief?
I got my first cartilage piercings and tattoos about twenty years ago. I like how they look and the process, and I always receive a bit of head pain relief afterward. I got the most relief after my tragus piercings, which I had done about one year apart. The tragus is that really thick part of the ear, on the skull side, protecting the entrance to the inner ear. Before the first one, I needed to go to the ER every 3-4 weeks, and afterward, I didn't go for several months. It could have been a coincidence; it wasn't the placebo effect since I wasn't expecting anything other than a cool-looking accessory. I got the other side done when I took X to the shop to get her earlobes pierced and noticed relief.
Did I get my daith pierced?
Because of my love for piercings, I was a perfect guinea pig for an actual daith piercing to see if it worked. If it didn't, I wouldn't have lost anything. So as the piercing "cure" controversy continued swirling that year (2015), I went to my tattoo and body piercing shop and asked specifically for my daith to be pierced.
However, the piercer looked at my ear and said he couldn't pierce the daith safely because mine was way too small. This is why I love that shop and trust the artists who work there. When I told him what I was looking to do, he suggested a double conch piercing because he also gets migraines and noticed a slight improvement after having his done. I readily agreed.
Did the double conch piercing help?
The two punctures were not nearly as painful as the tragus piercings, which makes sense since that part of the ear is thinner. I super loved the result as far as appearance. They also healed easily and quickly, though lying on my right side was a little painful for a while. Ironically, this time I noticed little to no migraine relief.
Should the daith provide migraine relief?
Author's sketch of acupuncture points relevant to migraine with the proper daith piercing location.
A couple of months later, I found a fabulous article on Live Oak Acupuncture's website, written by acupuncturist Kristen Horner Warren with help from piercer Elayne Angel. The first thing I noticed was a photo of an ear with the daith labeled, as well as the actual acupuncture points for migraine, which Live Oak shows with dots in a line down the middle of the ear, closer to my conch piercings than the daith (and even farther from the tragus). I sketched the photo below, adding the tragus and conch labels. It's definitely worth mentioning that when I googled acupuncture sites on the ear for migraine, I got some varying results, though none pointed to the daith. Most commonly, the daith area seems to correspond with the large intestine.
Why is it believed to work?
Live Oak's points on the ear for migraine also show that they understand that migraine is a multifaceted illness since one of those dots definitely lines up with what I found in most images as "stomach." But anyway, the theory is that the daith piercing works to lessen migraine pain because that spot is an acupuncture point for head pain, that the piercing is almost like a permanent pin in it, putting pressure on just the right spot. But it's not true. And migraine is much more than just head pain.
What are the risks and benefits?
Also, this: "The daith is an advanced piercing that is often done incorrectly. A bad piercing... is likely to result in excessive pain and serious problems with healing." The benefits noted by patients tracked by the pair lasted only one week to approximately one month. "Clinical experience suggests that body piercings offer temporary therapeutic benefit at best. They definitely do not represent a long-term cure for any condition, including migraines." 1
There is no cure!
Author's ear without daith piercing
And that brings me to my biggest problem with the posts, memes, and articles claiming the daith piercing is beneficial for migraine sufferers: the word "cure." Migraine is a neurological disease, and the symptoms are incredibly difficult to treat and manage. There is no cure - not medication, surgery, Botox, TENS units, trigger point injections, or even the CGRP drugs, and certainly not a difficult to correctly administer and properly heal cartilage piercing.
Do any of you have the daith piercing? Let me know!
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