I was over the moon when my parents finally agreed to me getting my tragus pierced. I figured, hey, if they were going to let me get my tragus done, then they can't object to me getting my tragus pierced vertically on my other ear as well!
At A Glance Author missy Contact missy@bme.anon When Six months ago Studio Scribe Location Bournemouth, England The next day, my friend and I went to Scribe, my local tattoo and piercing place after school. We were both pretty nervous (as she was getting her eyebrow pierced) but the staff there were really friendly and welcoming which calmed us down. When I explained I wanted both my tragus and vertical tragus done, the piercer explained it might be better to get them done at separate times, as sleeping would be difficult. However, I was already determined, so I was not going to let anything get in the way of getting my piercings, right then and there!
I wanted the vertical tragus done first as I thought this would be really painful and I wanted to get it over with first. The piercer showed me the bar she would pierce it with, which was a really small, cute, bar. She drew on the dots and then informed me when I needed to take a deep breath. I did so, and at the same time tried to think of a song to sing in my head, to take my mind off what I was getting done. As it was the song fresh in my mind from the radio, Busted's Air Hostess was playing over in my brain.
However, as I find with all my piercings, it hurts for a second and then it's over. I absolutely fell in love with my vertical tragus piercing when the piercer held up a mirror. She was obviously impressed with her work too, as she asked me to show her husband (the tattooist), and said that she wanted him to get it done too. It did not bleed, it did not crust...it was just...perfect.
At the time I was still at school, at an all girls grammar school, so you can imagine, anything other than lobe piercing was not allowed. It was fun trying to hide it from teachers, and watching the faces of fellow students staring at me (because, like myself a few days before I got it done, they had never seen such a piercing before). What I loved most about my piercing, was that it got me attention from lots of people (especially guys) who used it to ask questions about as a conversation starter!
After about two months, I noticed that I could see more and more of the bar, as, as I had feared, it was starting to grow out. By about seven months, there was nearly the whole bar showing, with about three millimeters still through my tragus.
I came to the decision to remove the bar, because I was become aware that I was becoming more and more at risk of it being pulled out, with so much of the bar sticking out.
On a cold Monday morning in November 2004, I was sat in my Sociology lesson at college, watching a video about life expectancy, trying to unscrew the balls. I had never taken it out before, so the balls were on pretty tight. I twisted and fiddled for about fifteen minutes before the bar finally came out and landed on my shoulder. Unfortunately, to my despair, the balls were still firmly attached to both ends of the bar. The bar had come out horizontally, removing with it, a small amount of my tragus.
I quickly pulled out a mirror, having visions that my whole tragus would have disappeared, but luckily it was not too noticeable. A small couple of millimeters from the bottom of my tragus is now lost, and I'm guessing, will never grow back. I could feel the groove of where the bar had been, and I can still feel it now. A little line scar on the edge of my deformed tragus.
This all sounds pretty terrible, but no one has yet noticed my strange tragus unless I actually point it out to them, and even then they have to look at the other one to notice any difference. As much as I would love to get it redone, my tragus is not really the right shape anymore, and if I would be too scared to lose any more of it.
Even though this is a sad tale about a grown out piercing, I do not regret anything about it. Whilst I had my vertical tragus, I loved it, as did everyone else that saw it, and I definitely would not go back and change things if I could. It is probably my number one piercing I have ever had done (which is out of fourteen) so I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a cool, sexy piercing which attracts a lot of attention.