At A Glance
Author	Rebecca
Contact	beccasuzanne@yahoo.com
When	Six months ago
Studio	Access All Areas
Location	Nottingham, UK

After seeing a friend's tragus piercing I decided it looked really good and wanted to have my own done. Later that week I got slightly drunk and I foolishly decided to pierce my own. With the help of my sister, I found a stud and we got down to piercing me. She thought I was mad of course, as did my boyfriend. He actually came and stood at the door and told me it was never going to happen without the proper equipment. I hate being proved wrong so this just made me even more determined to pierce it.
My sister and I did this using a standard stud which actually broke in my ear. I managed to get it out and began all over again, this time managing to pierce my tragus. I put a plaster over my ear in order to keep the jewellery in place and went to sleep. I woke the next day with a throbbing ear and a vague recollection of what I'd done. After peeling back the plaster I realised it didn't look too bad but wasn't overly keen on it either. It didn't look too straight and the stud wasn't intended for tragus piercing and therefore quite out of place! I was at work the day after doing my piercing and everyone was asking me about the massive plaster on my ear. I reluctantly told them as I know they'd think I was mad, and, surprise, they thought I was mad.
I kept the stud in for a few weeks but it would constantly fall out as there was only a stud in place, not an actual piece of body jewellery intended for that kind of piercing. I thought about trying to put a butterfly fastening onto the back of the earring but realised that if this went into my actual ear then I would be in a pretty bad position. I managed to find a ring for the piercing but was unable to put the ball closure onto it and this made it almost as bad as the stud as it constantly slipped out of my ear! Eventually I grew tired of the ring constantly slipping out and left the piercing to heal. Luckily it caused no lasting damage but I had actually pierced it at an angle so it was impossible for any jewellery to be put in properly. There is only a faint scar where I did the piercing which is barely visible. I was lucky, but I could easily have caused myself some serious damage, so to anyone who is thinking of carrying out their own piercing, Don't Do It! It' s so much better to go and have it done by an experienced and professional piercer. I'm talking from experience!
After thinking hard, I decided to have it done properly, so went to a reputable piercer and arranged my appointment. I decided upon a 'd-ring' as I wasn't sure a bar would suit me, and made sure I didn't have the piercing on the same side that I had caused myself as that would have been very painful! I was used to this piercing establishment as it was my fourth piercing there, so walking up those stairs to the surgically white cubicles was not as nerve-wracking as could have been expected.
After reading all the information on tragus piercing, I was instructed to lie down on the bed resembling one that a doctor would have. After marking the spot on the piercing my tragus was sprayed with some very cold stuff that numbed it completely. The guy then proceeded to pierce me. Initially I didn't feel any pain, just a lot of pressure which was a bit uncomfortable but not unbearable. As the needle went through, I felt a sting and heard a pop and the piercing was done.
The next stage was inserting the jewellery, and this was actually the most painful part of the whole piercing. I could feel the ring was inserted, and the guy piercing me had to wiggle it into place which was quite painful and not particularly pleasant, but it was over very quickly and my piercing was complete! My ear did begin to throb slightly at this point but it was no way as bad as when I had my nose pierced so I thought it'd be fine.
About an hour later I saw my friend (the one with the tragus piercing) and she commented on how swollen my tragus looked. Luckily by the time I got home it looked fine and was only tender to touch. I realised when I looked at it properly, however, that maybe a bar would have been a better idea as I thought that the ring looked quite bulky! I've still got the ring in now and have grown to like it but I am thinking about whether or not a bar would look better! I think the one thing that's putting me off changing the jewellery is that a friend with the same piercing told me that when she changed her ring for the first time it was complete agony. Maybe I will just stick to the ring for now!