It all started about a month ago when I was changing the only earings that I had then; three lobe piercings. I noticed this little piece of cartilage diagonal from my tragus and directly above my lobe. I thought to myself, "Hmm, that just might look extremely awesome with a little hoop right there." I decided that it wasn't exactly possible to pierce because I actually had never seen anyone with that piercing before and tried to forget about it right then.
At A Glance Author Katie Contact Katie@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Marc Studio A nice little studio Location Worcester, Massachusetts Later on that week, I was explaining what I would like done to my friend, Nicole. She told me she thought she knew what I was talking about since she is an avid fan of bmezine.com and looks at it religiously, and sent me a picture. Sure enough, she was right, and apparently what I wanted done was called the Anti-Tragus.
I asked my Mom about getting it done after showing her the picture, and she basically told me I was crazy. Since I'm only 16, I obviously need her or my father's permission, and if I couldn't coerce her then sure enough my father wouldn't have the idea of it either. I finally was able to have her agree to letting me get it, just as long as I paid for it myself. I babysat and made $30. I also received my report card and got good grades, so my Mom gave me another $10 on top of that. The downside to the fact that I actually had money was that I owed my sister $20 for something she had previously bought for me so I was again down to $20, and I knew that the piercing itself cost $25 plus the cost of jewelry.
My last resort was to ask my Dad if he could pay the difference, and he said yes! I was so excited, and we decided to get it done on Saturday (I had asked on Wednesday). For the next few days, I spent my time diligently being on bmezine.com reading other people's experiences of the Anti-Tragus. Some had put negative thoughts into my brain, but I really knew that I wanted this done and decided to see for myself.
Saturday came faster than I had anticipated, which was great. I expected to be really nervous when I arrived, but I wasn't. The people there were very nice and the lady who had asked my father and I to sign our papers seemed very knowledgeable and helped me pick out my jewelry. Overall, it had come to $37, which wasn't that bad. That meant that the jewelry itself was 12. I had decided on the 16 gauge CBR with a silver bead that had a green gem in the middle. Finally, it was my turn to go into the back room. My nerves really didn't kick in then either. I had sat onto the little doctor's office like table/chair, and he asked me which ear I wanted the earing in. He then cleaned my ear, marked the spot, and got the tools ready. I was expecting the clamps to hurt, but he was very gentle and they didn't hurt at all. My Dad proceeded to come over to hold my hand in case the pain was intense. But, to be honest, it didn't really hurt at all. For me, the needle going in just felt really hot. I didn't even hear the infamous "pop" noise that other people seemed to have heard. He thus put in the jewelry, again very gently, and I couldn't even feel it at all. I wasn't exactly sure when he was finished, but when he was, I thought it looked perfect. Apparently I had bled a little, but no more than expected. My ear felt warm, but I can honestly say I didn't feel any pain. After it was over, I had joked about how I read an experience where some person compared the pain to giving birth, and we all joked about that for a few minutes. During this whole ordeal, the piercer had changed his gloves 4 times which was a surprise to my Dad, and he told me all of the information that I needed to know and told me to feel free to ask questions. He made me feel very comfortable, and he seemed extremely knowledgeable about his trade which I thought was very commendable.
Throughout the night my ear was just the tiniest bit swollen, but it didn't crust or ooze anything out. There was no pain really, except for when I cleaned the piercing, but that was very minimal. Today it was a little sore, but that's because I didn't have time to clean it this morning. When I got home from school, I made sure to do the salt-soak (my first) and wash it out after. Right now it doesn't feel too bad, but it is a lot more sore than it was yesterday.
I really recommend this piercing to anyone who is thinking about it. The pain actually wasn't as bad as I had thought, but I am almost positive that that depends on the person really, because all ears are different. The piercing itself is very beautiful, and so far, I have gotten a lot of positive comments about it. People aren't really sure how it was done, though.