With every piercing I have gotten (tragus, cartilage, rook, conch, tongue), I have always cleaned it regularly...for the first few days. I did all the anti-bacterial soap stuff with the q-tips, rinsed it, tightened it, used the sea salt, etc. But then when it started to feel better, I'd stop.
At A Glance Author Katie Contact Katie@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Kristin Studio Metamorphosis Location Indianapolis I know, I know...even if it seems healed, that does not mean it is. I really had to learn this the hard way. So when your piercer tells you to keep on cleaning it, please do it. It will save you a lot of grief.
What I'm talking about is my tragus piercing. On my 18th birthday I went to Metamorphosis in Indianapolis, IN (in the Broad Ripple metro), and I had my tragus pierced. I did not know anyone who had it, and I thought it was awesome. I also thought I could impress a lot of people who would never ever do it because they "heard that it pops when they pierce it." That's not true for anyone now that I know. Of every body piercing, my tragus probably hurt the least to get done. It seems to me the worst part of every piercing is sitting there waiting for the needle to go through. But I was extremely satisfied with it. Even my grandma liked the little iridescent stone. It was just so darn cute.
Now, fast-forward to somewhere around two months later. I woke up to go take a final exam at school. I slept in knowing I didn't need to go to school until 2:00, but I wish I had woken up earlier. As I usually do, I mess with my piercings when I get up, as this weird habit I have. But that day I woke up and couldn't feel my tragus piercing. There was this large bump where it used to be, and I was really worried. I couldn't tell if it was actually there or not.
So I made this mad dash back to the tattoo parlor only to find that they didn't open until 1 o'clock. As I waited for 40 minutes, I fidgeted with my ear. This place was far from my school, and I doubted I'd make it back in time for my exam. Finally, it was one o'clock.
I went inside and none of the girls up front could figure out what I should do. So they called up one of the guys and we sat down on the couch and he stared at my ear for awhile. "I think your skin has swollen over the piercing," he said. So one of the girls took me back and put in a longer post. After Kristin, one of the awesome piercing artists, fixed my ear up all nice, she told me there was no charge for the check-up. Then I went back out front to talk to the same guy as before (his name is unbeknownst to me). He told me that to treat the damage I had to hold chamomile tea bags on my ear for 10 minutes a day. I hate tea...the smell and the taste. My dad made fun of me sitting there with a wet tea bag over my right ear.
So, after the short visit to Metamorphosis, I ran back to my car that was about 1/4 of a mile away from the shop. It was raining, and I was at least 45 minutes away from school. I sat in my car, looked at the clock which said 1:30, and sped my way through Indy and onto the Interstate passing speeds of 90 miles an hour. I caught a front parking spot at school at exactly 2:00. I took my exam with this throbbing pain in my ear, and it was bleeding, but at least I could see it. I was so distracted throughout the exam...I kept wanting to play with the earring. That was another problem I had, too: messing with my piercing. But since then, my tragus has been in excellent shape, and every time I walk into Metamorphosis Kristin asks me how my ear is. It's nice that they know me.
The moral of the story...some pretty gross stuff can happen if you don't clean your piercing. Like me, your body can swell over the top of the earring and make it impossible to see. Not to mention it looks nasty. Then you have to go back and get a smaller post put in. It's all just a lot of trouble. The stress isn't worth it...just practice good hygiene and you should be fine. And to this day I still do not know how I managed to get from my location in Broad Ripple to my high school in 30 minutes. It just baffles me.
A special thanks to the guys and girls at Metamorphosis in Indianapolis. They are truly the best tattoo and piercing parlor I could ask for.