After a bad experience with my nose-piercing a year ago, I was very reluctant to ever step into Barbella again until I saw the anti-tragus piercing on a girl at my school. I obsessed about it and wondered endlessly about the pain but couldn't ask anybody because the semester ended and I hadn't seen anybody with that particular piercing since. I finally wandered into Barbella in Fountain Valley, where I had gotten my nose re-pierced correctly six months before and pondered the massive jewelry section.
At A Glance Author Brenna Contact Brenna@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Steve Studio Barbella Location Fountain Valley, CA I finally decided on a curly barbell(usually used for belly button piercings) while my friend got her nose pierced. I walked in the booth just as he was finishing up with her and started to get really panicked when I saw the thin rim of blood around the diamond bit of her stud. Steve cleaned off the chair and got the new equipment from the sterilizer and sent my new barbell off to be cleaned. He marked my ear with a felt tip marker and moved the dot until I was absolutely satisfied with the placement. He asked me if I was ready and then asked me to take a deep breath and then exhale all the air in my lungs. About halfway through my exhale he pushed the needle through my anti-tragus and I felt and heard a slight "crack".
I immediately saw stars and then as all the blood rushed to my head I grabbed the side of the chair to steady myself... I really thought that I could have passed out. Steve talked me through my little episode and then held up a mirror so I could look at my ear. There was a huge needle pushed painfully into my skin and I could already see the blood starting to seep out of the hole. I was ready to just take it out because there was NO WAY I was going to let him put the barbell in after all of that.
He finally convinced me to finish the process after five minutes of telling me how cool it was going to look when it was done. The jewelry insertion wasn't as bad as I had thought but the silver already started to tug at my skin and it made it really uncomfortable. He warned me sternly to take a couple of pain killers before I went to sleep and to not talk on the phone or sleep on that ear for a couple of months. As I drove home, the euphoria began to wear off and I just felt extreme pain every time I moved my head even a little bit. I showed my boyfriend and he said he loved it but he cringed a little at how red it was and how large the metal seemed in my ear.
About three weeks later, a keloid scar started to develop on the backside of my ear even though I was cleaning it with the Dial they gave me at the parlor. The front was healing rather well but I had to dab the back with Tea Tree Oil (it had helped with my nose) to help the bump go down. All seemed to be doing fine and there was only minimal crustiness and pain.
Then about a week ago, I developed a really awful sore throat and a bit of a fever right before my finals week. I looked at the mirror and saw that my piercing had become extremely inflamed and the back had developed an even larger bumpy keloid around the hole that I could feel throbbing every time I accidentally touched anywhere near it. It was truly awful. As the fever cleared up though, the infection started to leave and about four days later it is in the best condition it has been in. It has pushed my right ear slightly and changed the shape but it is only really obvious if you are behind me and my hair is up.
The hardest thing is not being able to sleep on that ear and also having to put the phone receiver on my left side instead of my right. If you decide to do this same piercing, take care to wash it daily with whatever they give you and wear your hair up in a pony-tail for a few weeks to avoid the painful problem of you hair getting caught in the curl of the barbell.
I have had my nose, cartilage, and four earlobe piercings done before and this one was by far the most painful and hardest to heal. But, I am really happy with my new piercing and would highly recommend the professional team at Barbella. They are very ethical and clean and really make you feel comfortable whether you walk in with a mohawk or flip-flops.