What if I told you that the only thing standing between you and a cure to intense headaches and migraines was a piercing? You’d probably say I’m crazy, right? However, recent piercing trends and even an essay by a University of Florida health neurologist say otherwise!
Fox 25 Boston reports that a simple daith piercing could be the key to alleviating headaches. The daith, or the innermost fold of cartilage in your ear, has become a popular place to get a piercing recently. So, how on earth does this (hella cute) piercing hold the magic to making the pain disappear? University of Florida health neurologist Edward Neely discussed the topic in an essay presented to the American Headache Society back in June and offers his explanation as to why a daith piercing may be exactly what you need.
“I’ve seen some patients with good response and other with virtually no response,” says Neely in a report by Action News Jax. Neely explains that daith piercings go through the vagus nerve, “so, potentially piercing that nerve can act like a permanent acupuncture needle.” Neely even says that one patient has been headache free for at least 18 months (Uh, sign me tf up?!).
Paula Nicholls, a woman featured by Action news Jax, says that she’s experienced pain from migraine headaches since second grade. Within a minute of receiving a daith piercing in her left ear, Nicholls said that the pain in the left side of her face was no more.
“I usually have a lot of sinus pressure and a lot of pressure near my face, but I automatically felt the difference between the left side and my right side, and it feels more free on this side and it feels absolutely amazing,” says Nicholls.
Kelly Buscher, a professional piercer who worked on Nicholls, explains that although piercings such as the daith piercing are nothing new, the trend of seeking out headache relief in different ways has grown in the past year.
“A lot of people are tired of the medications, Botox, so they’re using this as one of the last resorts and taking a jump to see if it works,” Buscher tells Action News Jax.
Neely does note that the procedure may not work for everyone, but hey, it’s worth a shot, and you get a new piercing out of it!