I first came across the vertical tragus whilst browsing the website to Infinite Body Piercing. I had my right rook done at Infinite and was aching for another piercing, but I wanted something interesting. Thankfully I saw the picture on the website and my mind was set. So with my piercing buddy Laura we embarked on one of our many piercing adventures. Decked in our Rock Star shirts, and stopping at McDonald's, our adventure was definitely on it's way.
At A Glance Author GapChild1981 Contact GapChild1981@aol.com When N/A Artist Luis Garcia Studio Infinite Body Piercing Location Philadelphia, PA When arriving at Infinite we asked the owner Jim about our piercings, and he told us to come back in an hour to have Luis look at our ears to see if we could get our desired piercings. Laura wanted a snug by the way. So we bummed around South Street for a while and then we were back. Luis checked our ears and sure enough we could get them. Although he did warn me that the vertical tragus is somewhat of a more intense piercing pain wise, but that was not a question for me, I wanted the piercing. Not to mention it looked hella cool and was definitely something very original, not like those trendy cartilage piercings done with piercing guns at Claire's and Piercing Pagoda (gag me). So he chose a 16 gauge curved steel barbell, the length escapes me right now. It was a busy night, so we had to wait.
So we waited for my turn when I was called back I plopped myself down in Luis's chair and waited while he cleaned my ear. I liked the fact that he took his time in marking my ear carefully and ensuring in the proper placement. He also changed his gloves several times to prevent any contamination or possible spread of germs. Luis and the rest of the staff at Infinite are amongst the most consumate professionals in the piercing industry. After the cleaning he told me that it would be a little bit of a longer piercing, much longer than my rook because he has to pierce then stop and almost realign the needle so it's pierced through the tragus in the right direction, but as long as I could be patient I would be fine. So I'm expecting alot of pain, he tells me to take some deep breaths and he pierces on the exhale. WOW, did that ever hurt, and the worst of it was that he wasn't done, he still had to go through the tragus and insert the jewelry. Sure enough, I was bleeding, my first bleeding experience. Luis was great though, he kept asking me the whole time if I was ok and he also told me that he had done only 7 or 8 vertical tragus piercings before mine. Tres cool I thought. So after I was all done he gave me the pamphlet about aftecare and he instructed me to clean it twice daily with sea salt soaks and to not be freaked out if it bruised, but it would take a while to heal.
Healing was good, everyone asked how much it hurt and said how they'd never seen something like that before. I thought, duh! All was going well until a friend rubbed my ears at a foam party, and it ripped the piercing making bleed. I think this was the beginning of the downfall of this piercing because it seemed like it was starting to migrate after that. Since my original curved barbell was still in place, I wanted something shorter. Although I should have known better I went to a random parlor while in NYC and asked them to change the barbell, and they put in a 14 gauge externally threaded barbell in place of my 16 internal. This stretched it and thus started the growing out. I knew it was growing out about a week later, and much to my dismay upon another trip to Infinte, I had Luis remove it. Such a shame too, because it was my favorite piercing. It's also too bad that I didn't get any closeup pictures of the piercing because I wanted to send it in to BME and a c opy to Luis for his portfolio.
I ended up getting another vertical tragus in the other ear, but alas that one was migrating as well. Possibly because I slept on that air and because I wore headphones. Rather than try to salvage the piercing, I just removed it. Maybe I'll try again next year, or maybe my ears just aren't suited for it. Needless to say though it's an awesome piercing, and if you have the patience and caution to heal it, go for it, and don't let the pain stop you. If you're ever in the Philly area, stop by Infinite. The staff is awesome and you'll leave with a beautiful piercing. Luis and Jon, you're amazing piercers and I'll always be thankful for the great work you've done.