My fascination with transverse lobes started right here at BME. After retiring my tragus I felt really metal deprived and decided the best way to get around this would be to get something new.
At A Glance Author Lyndalite Contact shee_devish@hotmail.com IAM shee_dev When A month ago Artist Ami Studio Punktured @ Off Ya Tree Location Adelaide, Australia THE DILEMMA: I wanted to be somewhat original but couldn't go too over the top as I'm at a very "uniform strict" Catholic school.
MY ANSWER: The transverse lobe piercing.
For two weeks I pondered over the idea of a transverse lobe piercing. At first I was convinced I wanted a horizontal one, but after seeing pictures of slightly deformed horizontal lobes this put me off. Having it pierced horizontally would also leave me without my lobe piercings, which I was planning to stretch. So it was decided, my next addition would be a vertical transverse lobe on my right ear.
For the week before I had it pierced I did a lot of research and questioned friends about how they thought it would look. My main fear was my ear rejecting the piercing. It wasn't so much the lobe part I was worried about, but the cartilage as I've had real problems healing cartilage piercings in the past. A lot of my friends didn't like the idea of a barbell being put straight through an ear lobe as most of them are very anti-piercing. I received very negative reactions.
Friday, August 30th had finally arrived and luckily enough we had a student free day. My best friend, Bec, and I decided to meet in the city around 4:00pm and walk upto "Off Ya Tree" straight away. We stopped at a chocolate store on the corner of the mall to get "jelly belly" jellybeans in hope of easing my nerves that were making quite an appearance at the time. Eventually we made our way upto "Off Ya Tree" but unfortunately were told that we'd have to come back in half an hour because someone was already being pierced. That always seems to happen to me. So Ami, the piercer, booked me in for around 4:30pm and we all went our separate ways for the time being. Bec had a ballet class at 4:30 and had to leave around 4:15 to get changed so I was left with a dude I know called Simon.
We headed back upto "Off Ya Tree" around 4:20ish and the other piercer was just finishing up. Ami discussed with me exactly what I wanted and had a feel of my ear lobe to work out exactly what she was doing. I filled out the usual form, stating that I take full responsibility for my piercing et cetera and signed a petition, then I sat down on the couch and waited...and waited until she finally called me into the room (it was probably only minutes but it seemed like hours). I sat up on the half-bed half-bench and watched Ami get everything ready for the procedure. She'd never done an anti-tragus to lobe piercing before but was sure she could pull it off, and so was I. This didn't make it any easier on my nerves but I also felt incredibly special because I was going to be the first.
Ami cleaned my earlobe, anti-tragus and surrounding areas with Betadine and then an alcohol swab. It was now time to decide on placement. I wanted it pierced diagonally, not harshly so, but I didn't want it straight up and down. This did mean that I would have to sacrifice my second lobe piercing but I wasn't too fussed. So I was marked with a pink marker for where the needle was going to go and a black marker for the entry and exit holes. Ami decided she wanted to try and clamp my ear because it would make it a lot easier for her, I agreed, as I did want to go about this in the easiest way possible. Luckily enough it only took 2 shots to get the clamp on my extremely squishy ear and next thing I knew...the needle was sitting in it. I can't remember if it went down through my lobe or up through it, Ami thinks she did it down but I have a strange feeling it was up (god bless our fantastic memories). It took a few seconds to get the jewellery ready (a 14g 20mm straight barbell) but before I could think, it was in and she was tightening the balls. We all admired my vertical lobe for a few minutes (I was extremely happy with it) and Ami decided that she wanted to take photos of it next time I was in. We came out of the backroom and down to the counter to give the other piercer a look. I paid and thanked Ami for the thousandth time and left.
THE PAIN & HEALING: Now I'm not going to tell you that it didn't hurt, because it did, but not in an excruciatingly unbearable way. It was fairly quick and didn't bleed too much. All in all though it was the week afterwards that it hurt. It was really bruised for the first week (it bruised up the night that I had it pierced) but at the moment there's only a real tiny bit over my old lobe piercing. The bottom ball is in that kind of spot where it gets knocked around a fair bit when I'm not thinking (eg. on shirt collars, scarves, my shoulder and blankets etc) but just over 4 weeks later it seems to be doing alright. I've been salt soaking it twice a day, religiously and spraying it at night with a cooling aftercare spray called "Protat." I've never used anything else on my piercings other than salt soaks, but I am now swearing by this stuff. It's healing up fantastically and hasn't migrated at all, so I'm extremely pleased with it.
I've had fantastic reactions from everyone, even my anti-body mod friends, which I am so happy about. The first thing anyone asks though is "FUDGE!! Didn't that hurt?" I've been back in to see Ami a fair few times since I've had it done, just to keep an eye on it and make sure it's healing up alright. I finally had photos taken on Friday the 13th (OOOOHHHHH!) so they should be up on my IAM page soon. If anyone has any questions on my vertical lob piercing, feel free to contact me via e-mail or my IAM page.