An Anti-Tragus piercing is what I was considering having for quite a while...I'd seen pictures on BME and other resources and decided I really liked it, although I'd never actually seen anyone properly that has it done. It's one of those piercings that no-one has ever really heard of, maybe that's one of the reasons why it appealed to me, I don't know.
At A Glance Author Laura Contact Laura@bme.anon When A month ago Studio Celtic Art Location Derbyshire, England. My friend wanted her navel done, so she came with me to the piercer. We'd been planning it for about a week, had the day and time sorted and everything. We went to a place called Celtic Art Tattoo Studios, in Derbyshire, England. I'd been there for my nose piercing and my navel, so I knew the piercer was good. Finally calmed my friend down enough to get her inside the doors of the studio! Anyway, we went in and signed the papers and everything, and then we were taken straight to the piercing room.
My friend went first and got her navel done, which went fine. Then it was my turn. The piercer spent about 5 minutes cleaning everything and preparing. She showed me her opening the needle packet and the clamp packet, and also explained the auto-clave cleaning procedure. Originally, I wanted it exactly on the anti-tragus...but the piercer suggested I had it slightly further back as it wasn't as deep. She marked the place where she thought it might be better and it turned out I really liked the placement! Then came the choice of jewellery...I wanted a BCR to start with. She showed me two different types of gauges, a 1mm and a 1.6mm. I went with the 1.6m as I thought it'd be easier to get other jewellery in, and especially if I wanted a bigger BCR in it, so...on with the clamps!
I think the clamps were one of the most painful things about it, but I've found that with all of my piercings so far. It took quite a while to actually get the clamps in place, she made them quite tight, which really started to hurt but eventually she got them in the right place. As soon as they were in the right place she went straight to pierce. I must admit the needle going through was actually quite painful, but it still felt good. The needle went through really smooth and quickly, then onto the BCR. She put the BCR into the needle and began to pull it through, this hurt quite a lot actually but it was done really quickly and then slipped the ball in. I have my new anti-tragus piercing! I got up to have a look at it in the mirror and I fell in love with it straight away. As I'd had things pierced by her at the studio before, she asked me if I needed all the aftercare explaining, I said no as I still had the aftercare sheet from the last time I was pierced. She then talked me through a little bit of it to help with the healing of that particular piercing. It was recommended to me that I used saline-solution to help with it. That was that.
On to the healing...
Day One – It didn't actually hurt as much as I thought it would on day one. I went home and cleaned it, which hurt a bit but all-in-all it wasn't too bad. I couldn't sleep on it at night, but that didn't surprise me!
Day Two – It did hurt when I woke up...but I cleaned it and did the saline solution thing and went off to school! I took some co-codamol tablets as it did hurt, and these seemed to ease the pain a little. Took some more when I got home from school. It hurt more today than when I actually had it done, but I cleaned it again in the evening and went to bed!
Day Three – A lot of swelling at this point. It hurt to touch it and to clean it...but I cleaned it anyway because it had to be done. I took a lot of pain killers that day to try and reduce the pain a little bit and swelling. It was recommended to me that I take Ibuprofen to ease and swelling and the pain. As I work with fresh foods I have to wear a hat with a hairnet, but I can't allow my bosses to see the new piercing so I had to cover it with my hairnet! Cleaned it and did the saline solution when I came home...it felt really soothing to actually clean it and soak it for a bit...it helps!
Day Four – The swelling got quite bad, and it was painful to touch most of my ear but I continued with the cleaning procedure and that seemed to help a bit. I couldn't actually move the BCR at all because of the swelling, which worried me slightly. At this point I was actually quite regretting having it done, because of the amount of pain...but I loved the piercing so continued with it.
Day Five Onwards – The swelling started to go down from this point and it felt a lot better. It was easier to clean and it started to look like normal again, without all the pain! I still couldn't sleep on it at night for some time, but it was healing really well and I was really pleased with the piercing and loved it more than when I had it done!
I don't think this piercing's for everyone, and if you're not prepared to put the effort cleaning it and things in then it's not suitable. However, I am really glad I had it done and it's my favourite piercing!
(P.S...I apologise for the not so inventive title!)