I am a 17-year old female who loves piercings. Before yesterday, I had 7 piercings: 3 in each of my lobes and my left helix pierced. Lately, I've been getting into the trend of home-done piercings. I had already done my third holes in my ears and well as my helix, all of which have had no complications and still look great. I've been wanting my tragus pierced for a really long time, but my parents were highly against it and I'm not legal. So, time for another home-done project: it shouldn't hurt anything worse than my helix, so how bad could it be?
At A Glance Author blackrebel Contact gravitationalcollapse@yahoo.com When It just happened Artist me Studio at home I picked out a regular sterling earring and sterilized it as I sat on the bathroom counter. I marked where I wanted the earring to go through on my right ear, and proceeded to just take the post of the earring and guide it through. It's tough, trying to get a dull post through a piece of skin as thick as a tragus. However, it was a great marker for where I wanted it placed. It only hurt in the beginning, when I had to penetrate the skin. It was a lot tougher than I thought it would be: the tragus is very thick and, being a right-handed person, piercing with my left hand for my right ear was a rather difficult task I had not foreseen. I ended up pressing my right index finger against the back of my right tragus and pushing the post through with my left hand.
Finally, there was a loud pop which indicated my success in piercing my own tragus. The pain was considerably less than expected, the helix piercing was definately more painful, probably because of inadequate blood supply. The popping sound made me cringe a bit, I was also elated at my accomplishment. The tragus piercing was something I thought I would have to get a professional to do, since I didn't think I had the guts to do it. I reached over to grab the back of the earring across the counter. I attached the back to the earring and cleaned the new piercing with some anti-bacterial soap. It bled a lot more than it did with my other piercings, but it wasn't anything too severe.
Really, it did not hurt that much: just a little pressure and that was it. I didn't even use ice or any other numbing agent. (And really, my pain tolerance isn't that high.) I had heard many stories about it hurting really bad and maybe I'm just lucky but it was the least painful of any of my piercings. If anybody has gotten a helix piercing and has survived that pain, they can definately survive a tragus!
However, the next day I realized I needed a barbell of some sort to go through my tragus. I couldn't have a standard earring in it forever; besides, the back was partially visible. I went to the nearby jewelery store, picked out a barbell of good quality, and went home. It was a sterling silver barbell with a spike, small and simple, just what I wanted. It was curved so it would bend around my tragus, which I think looks really good.Then I realized my standard 18-gauge earring was through my tragus, and the barbell I purchased was a 16-gauge. I was not looking forward to fixing this problem.
I cleaned the piercing and the jewelery and quickly pulled the earring out. Blood instantly started to form around the hole; I picked up a Q-tip and swabbed the area dry. I then pressed the barbell in and started twisting it into my tragus. My hands were sweaty and I kept slipping on my placement. It also didn't help that I picked out a curved barbell rather than a straight one. This hurt a lot more than it did the first time, it was like re-piercing it, without the horrible crunch noise at the end. After a couple minutes of struggling with the placement, I finally succeeded and attached the ball at the back end of the barbell. Placing the ball at the back was probably the worst part of the whole scenario, I just wanted it to be over and for the back to finally screw on. I was just hoping the ball wouldn't roll into my eardrum. But, I am happy to report I was successful.
Now I have my brand new tragus piercing. It's beautiful and I love it. And, I saved a lot of money. Though it's still a little sore, it's much less pain than expected. I would recommend this piercing to anyone but perhaps let a professional do the job. If you are to do it at home, make sure everything's sterile and you have appropriate equipment (gauges, etc). Trust me, fixing this problem was not very fun. However, it was well worth it and it looks lovely. There is no sign of infection, rejection, or even irritation. It's wonderful.
I still have yet to tell my parents.