I got my rook done 7 years ago when I was 15, and it was my first professional peircing. I was so freaked out, I'm afraid of needles and had never been peirced with a needle before. So I laid down closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was all over before I knew it and hurt less than my hex, which was peirced with a gun OUCH!!! After that I was hooked on body peircing. It took about 5 months to heal completely and only hurt if I got smacked in the ear by something. So if your thinking about getting a rook just do it, you'll love it. And if the peircer takes more than one push to get the needle though or if it hurts a lot afterwards have another peicer look at it because it was probably done wrong.