There were a few reasons why I decided to attempt a piercing on myself. Firstly, I thought it would be an interesting experience, and a test of whether I had the strength (both physically and mentally) to go through with it. Secondly, I had just retired a couple of problematic piercings and a little pride-driven voice within me indignantly said "well, let's see if I can do any better"... I have no fear of needles, and have play-pierced myself on a number of occasions, so I thought it was worth a go.
At A Glance Author Titanium Angel Contact Titanium Angel@bme.anon IAM titanium_angel When It just happened Artist Myself Studio Home Location Cambridge, UK I ordered a set of 10 sterile 14g needle blades from Wildcat, along with a new titanium barbell, intending in the first instance to pierce my left tragus. When the goods arrived (it took about a week or so) I cleaned up and disinfected as well as I could (boiled in water for about 10 minutes, and soaked in dettol disinfectant) the new barbell and some spares that only I had worn (I consider that to be okay – though autoclaving would be ideal, unfortunately in the UK it isn't so simple to walk into a piercing shop and get them to do autoclaving for you as it seems to be in the USA. Certainly it would not be okay if the jewellery was either not new or had been worn by anyone other than myself.)
I cleaned my ear and my hands with provon, donned some gloves and set to work. The piercing was not the same as the swift jobs you get done at the piercing studio. It was a slow process punctuated by grimaces, deep breaths and generally hyping myself up for the next push. I got the needle through, but before my boyfriend could come and help with the jewellery, the needle dropped out and the hole was lost. A second attempt at piercing the left tragus (with a fresh needle) failed because the ear was swelling and getting extremely tender from the insult of the first piercing, and it was just too much. I gave up, cleaned up the ear, disposed of the needles in a sharps bin (it is very important to have proper needle disposal facilities – they can be purchased from medical supply websites), and decided to have another go a few days down the line.
Deconstructing this first experience, what went wrong? Firstly, I chose a damnably fiddly area for my first attempt at a permanent (well as opposed to the few minutes play-piercings last for) piercing. I had attempted to pierce it freehand because I felt that with clamps brought into the equation it would just get far too fiddly and confusing, although clamps are routinely used for professionally performed tragus piercings. However, it was an interesting experience.
And I was undeterred, for a few days later I decided to have another shot – this time at the anti-tragus of my right ear. Once again I cleaned everything up, laid it out on a sheet of tissues, gloved up and had a go. To cut a long story short, the entry of the needle was painful but bearable, I felt the needle penetrate layer by layer, moving in fits and starts, but try as I might, I couldn't get the needle to exit the ear (this is always the hardest part, even when play-piercing with comparatively tiny needles). I stopped to take a few deep breaths, sit down, recompose myself, but again the slow nature of the piercing had caused the ear to get very sore and extremely sensitive. With regret, I gave up yet again.
So the deconstruction: firstly, I realise the anti-tragus is in general a very painful piercing; perhaps I was being too ambitious. Again I was attempting a freehand piercing where piercers often use clamps. I also realised that the piercing is often performed at 16g, and also remember that my piercer did my rooks at 16g on the grounds that 14g would have been hideously painful. So maybe that accounts for the anti-tragus too, being as it is an extension of the same ridge of cartilage. The 14g needle certainly did look big and took an awful lot of effort to move through the different layers. I had chosen a tough challenge, and ultimately it got the better of me.
I am glad I tried this experiment, and it certainly was a steep learning curve for me. I cannot stress enough how if you try to pierce yourself you need to maintain as sanitary conditions as you can and to get proper equipment from a reputable supplier. Sterile needles are, to my mind, a must. However, they are big and tough things, and not easy to work with.
I think I will get an anti-tragus piercing sooner or later... but I am going to leave it to the professionals! I have all the more respect for them now I have found out just how tough piercing is to do!