When I turned 18, I decided that I wanted to get a piercing. I started simple with my nose, but it had healed so quickly and easily that I was ready for something else. Maybe it is an addictive nature or something but I already wanted another! I looked on BME for piercing that I liked. I was not about go get the same old played out tongue ring or belly ring like so many other people! I saw the anti-tragus piercing and I just loved it. I really enjoyed how it looked on all the pictures and thought it would be perfect for me.
At A Glance Author CourtsieB Contact CourtsieB@bme.anon When A year ago I am choosing not to give the name of the shop I got pierced at because my experience has nothing to do with the shop. The shop is an amazing place, and they are great people, too! My experience is completely unrelated to them, and I would not want to give the wrong impression about the place!
So I went in to the shop and told him what I wanted to get done. He seemed a little excited to do it. I was excited, and of course I had my adrenaline pumping for it. He had me lay on my side so he could get to my ear and put the dot to show where the placement would be. I thought it looked good and we moved on to the next step. I wanted to get a hoop put in, but unfortunately, they were out of the right size hoop and he had to put in a curved barbell instead.
This was the part that starts to make me nervous. He cleaned my ear off, and showed me that all of the instruments being used were either new or sterile. I felt comfortable, even though I was nervous, because I trusted him so much. He clamped my ear, which was a little uncomfortable because he pulled at it a bit. He asked me to take a few deep breaths and I told him not to tell me when he was going to put the needle through because I would tense up. He agreed, and told me to breathe deep and then put the needle through. It kind of creeped me out that I could hear the sort of pop noise that was made when the needle pushed through the tough piece of cartilage. A couple of drops of blood trickled out, which also made me a little uneasy. He said it was perfectly normal, so I didn't worry. He put the jewelry in and had me sit up to look. I loved how it looked right then! I got a lollipop for being a good piercee and paid and left.
That's about the best part of the whole ordeal. My ear swelled painfully. It looked terrible because it was so swollen. It looked like my ear was deformed. I was diligent about cleaning and salt soaks but nothing helped. I read online about different ways to help it heal, and I tried all different ways to help my ear heal, and nothing worked.
A few months passed, and I had good days and bad. I had more bad days then good, though. I couldn't sleep on that side, and the swelling never went all the way down. It always felt like the piercing was tight, even though it was not. I could not stand it. I still was cleaning it and doing salt soaks 3 and 4 months after I got it done, and it was still horribly painful.
Finally I had to go back to the shop and make sure that everything was ok. He said that it was not infected and he was not sure why I would be having so many problems, but that I was not doing anything wrong. He told me to keep up what I was doing and hopefully it would get better. I kept doing everything I was doing for another 4 or 5 months until I could not stand it anymore. I did what any person in my situation would do. I whined. A lot. And then I got logical and told myself that the anti-tragus just did not like me and was not right for my body. I took out the piercing and hours later the swelling went down and it felt one hundred percent better. Within a day or two, I was able to sleep on that side of my body again, and the piercing closed up.
It has been a few months since then and I do not have any scarring left over and my ear has completely healed. I would not discourage ANYONE from getting this piercing. I loved how it looked! It just did not work for me. It did not want to heal for some reason. But I would recommend it because it is super cute!