Industrial piercing
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The Industrial piercing is a double perforation of the upper ear cartilage for the purpose of inserting and wearing a long piece of jewelry. Typically, two piercings are made, one fairly close to the head, the the second further down the cartilage. A barbell-type piece of body piercing jewelry is inserted through the first piercing from behind the ear, travels diagonally across the front of the upper cartilage, then goes through the second piercing, and is secured with a screw-on bead behind the second hole.
The piercings themselves are made with a medium gauge hollow piercing needle (14g or 12g), and the barbell jewelry is usually worn during the healing period. Sometimes, a pair of captive-bead rings (CBRs) are used instead, and are exchanged for a barbell after healing is complete. Although use of CBRs will likely result in faster healing, proper alignment of the piercings is difficult when this technique is used.