A photo of a woman with an ear piercing on her inner cartilage has been circulating on the internet. The photo itself seems unremarkable, but then people read the note attached...
The note claims that this type of piercing, called a "daith piercing," is known for CURING people of painful migraine headaches.
But is it true?
Anyone who’s ever suffered from migraines know how debilitating they can be. It hurts to open your eyes, it hurts to hear noises and it hurts to even be conscious. The pain is excruciating and many times Advil just won’t cut it, but what if there was a way to reduce the pain of your migraines by getting this type of ear piercing? Would YOU get one?
"Since I had the piercing done, I've had virtually no pain in my head, which was almost constant before," former migraine sufferer Sheri Utecht told the Daily Mail of her daith piercing. "It sounds crazy and I couldn't quite believe it at first but I read up on it afterwards and apparently this piercing really can help with headaches."
The theory about this unique piercing is that it works similarly to acupuncture, which is a Chinese therapy that involves placing fine needles at specific pressure points on the body's surface to relieve pain. It causes blood vessels around the needle to open and become wider, which allows for an increase in blood flow to the tissues in that particular area of the body.
The only problem with getting a daith piercing as a cure for migraines is that there is only ANECDOTAL evidence to prove that the procedure actually works.
“Some people who have received a daith piercing have coincidentally found improvement with their migraine headaches," Dr. Thomas Cohn, an interventional pain doctor wrote on his blog. "The correlation is based on the success for some people with acupuncture in the same region of the daith piercing."
Dr. Cohn advises using acupuncture as a first step to ease your migraines and then if that works, you could try the daith piercing.
"If a person enjoys ear piercing and suffers from frequent headaches, it may be worthwhile to consider getting this spot pierced," Dr. Cohn writes. "... if you suffer migraines and are very unsure whether you want a piercing, trying acupuncture first would be a good alternative to determine if this treatment may be successful. If this is not working, and the migraines are not being well managed, further discussions with your medical practitioner about treatment options is warranted."
Daith piercings usually run from $50 to $100, depending on the piercing shop.
The Migraine Relief Center also recognizes the (unproven) link between daith piercings and easing migraine symptoms.
“The principle is that the piercing mimics acupuncture by hitting a pressure point, which relieves the pressure in the patient's head,” a blog on the website states. “By having it done on the same side as most migraines occur, it's thought to help reduce the incidence of migraines in the area.”
However, the blog also cautions, “At this point, the effect of daith piercings on migraine has not been officially studied so it's difficult to determine whether there's any truth to the claims or not.”
So DO daith piercings work? The answer seems to be that it DEPENDS and that a good first step would be to try acupuncture and see how effective that therapy is in relieving you of your migraine symptoms.
How great would it be if it DID work, though?!
