A little back story: in February of 2005, I fractured three vertebrae in my back. I missed three months of school, spent 12 weeks in a back brace and then 6 weeks in physical therapy. It was a very difficult time in my life and I knew that as soon as I turned 18, I wanted to do something for myself. Over the course of the previous two years, I had been throwing piercing and tattoo ideas around in my mind because I knew that on my 18th birthday, I was going to put another hole in my body. I just didn't know where. Within a week of my birthday, I had narrowed down my choices to either my lower navel or my tragus. In the past I had my ear lobes pierced twice and the top of my navel pierced so I wanted something more outgoing.
At A Glance Author Taurbar Contact Taurbar@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Holli Studio Dermagraffiti Location Latrobe, Pennsylvania So on the day of my 18th birthday and after I had finished Graduation practice at school, my best friend came over and we decided to head to our favorite studio, Dermagraffiti, which used to be located in Scottsdale but had moved to my hometown of Latrobe, Pennsylvania (yes, the home of Rolling Rock!). When we got there, I walked around looking at pictures of tattoos on the wall, trying to get up the courage to get it done. I got really excited and kind of scared. But my adrenaline was already pumping.
When I eventually got the courage, I went over and talked to Holli the piercer about what I wanted done. I had figured that I would get my lower navel done but she recommended doing it with a barbell instead of a ring. And because I didn't have a job at the time, I was short on cash and didn't want just a plain barbell. I wanted something pretty. So I changed my mind and went with the tragus. She had me sign all the appropriate papers and commented on how I was her second birthday girl that day.
After everything legal was taken care of, she led me back into her little piercing room. I had seen her do my best friend's labret piercing and I knew that she had done my friend's brother's vertical labret piercing and the guys of the studio had done both of their tattoos, so I felt comfortable being there with her. I knew that everything was clean and she definitely had a methodical way of setting everything up. Plus she used purple gloves and purple Q-tips, and everything was purple. It makes you feel more at home when even though the walls are stark white like a hospital, she has her own little touches to make you feel comfortable when you're in her care.
While she prepared everything, I chatted about random things with my friend. She marked the place and when I asked if it was going to hurt or not, she told me that it was more uncomfortable with pressure then pain. She put the clamps into position and pulled my tragus out from the side of my head so that she'd have better access to it. That felt weird because it normally doesn't turn in that direction. Then she placed the receiving tube in behind my tragus so that when she pushed the needle through, it wouldn't hit anything else in my ear. And while holding all that in there, she managed to ask me if I was ready and then began pushing the needle through. I remember that it took a fraction of a second for my navel to be pierced and this time it seemed to take a really long time. I felt it going through at the same time I could hear it going through the thick cartilage. I said "owww!" a few times, but then it was over and I only felt pressure, which is understandable. She removes the tube and then she goes about putting the ring in. It felt weirder having her pull the ring through then it did having her put the needle in. Probably because she was putting a round object through a straight hole. In a matter of a minute, she had the ring in and then she removed the clamps and I felt a huge amount of relief. She then put the ball on and it was done. I asked her if it was bleeding and she said that it bled a bit but not as much as people normally bleed for that piercing. She handed me the mirror and I looked at it and I was in love with it. I had chosen my left side because I figured that I would want to sleep on my right side more often.
She told me to clean it with either saline solution or sea salt water. I thought that using the saline solution would be easier since I could buy it in a bottle already made and I could take it with me easier then having to take a bag of salt and risking it spilling everywhere or having people wonder why I was carrying a mini bag full of mysterious white powder with me. For the first few weeks, it was quite difficult to clean it being as I could only see it in a mirror if I turned my head a certain way. If I cleaned it after my shower, the warm water had loosened most of the crustiness and the blood and then everything came off easier. And if I couldn't get a shower before cleaning it, I would take a cotton ball and soak it with the solution and place it on my piercing and kind of wrap it around my tragus to the back of the piercing. Then I would use a q-tip with the solution to work around the hole and the jewelry. It took almost a week and a half for me to be able to move the jewelry because of the swelling.
For the next month and a half, it looked wonderful. The bleeding stopped the next day even though it was only a drop of blood every time I'd clean it. I didn't risk sleeping on it because I didn't want the ring to get caught on my pillow and get pulled out while I was sleeping. Then I noticed that I was getting more crustiness again, just like in the beginning. I don't know if it was getting infected but I was cleaning it the same way that I had always been. I noticed that I was getting a little pink bump on the front of the ring. It looked like the skin was growing out and around the ring. I went back to Holli and had her look at it and she said that it didn't look like it was infected but that I would probably just need to put something straight in it, and she shared with me that was what she had to do with hers to get it to heal. I didn't have the money at the time to get a straight barbell for it and she absolutely did not recommend me buying something from the mall and doing it that way because the metal wasn't of good quality. I trusted her judgment and even though it looked bad and it would have been cheaper to do it myself, I wanted her to do it and know that it was getting done right. I followed her instructions to the T over the next week or two and using the actual sea salt instead of the saline solution or the H2Ocean spray and it seemed to help it a little bit.
I went back to her about a week later and she put in a straight barbell. It bled and started to hurt all over again just like it did whenever I first got it pierced because this time I was taking something straight and putting it through a curved hole. I think there had been a bump on the back of the piercing as well as the front and whenever she put the straight piece in, I think it punctured that bump because for the next week, it bled every time I cleaned it, more than it did before. I was finding that using the sea salt was taking more time to mix it together and then having to throw it out every time so that it didn't get contaminated, so I went back to using the saline solution. The crustiness has dwindled away to almost nothing. I get one every day or so and it normally comes off in the shower or right afterward when I clean it. I still clean it twice a day and I think that now since the outer part of the piercing is healing, the solution is making its way to the middle of the piercing and healing it slowly. Everyone I've talked to who got this piercing says that it takes a really long time to heal. It's been almost three full months since I've had it and it looks really good now. It doesn't hurt anymore if I accidentally sleep on it during the night.
Although this piercing of mine didn't heal as hassle-free as my navel piercing did, it was worth the hassle. It has turned out to be a very beautiful piercing. I like the barbell in it more than I liked the ring. It is so unnoticeable that it took my parents exactly one month to the day that I got it done to notice it. At first they were shocked and yelled at me for getting another hole in my body but I reminded them that it must not be too bad of a thing if they didn't notice it and it was healthy.
Now that my tragus is on its way to healing completely and I'm confident that my body isn't going to reject it, I'm anxious to get more piercings because they are very addictive. I would recommend this piercing for someone who is patient. It takes a long time for it to heal and you have to be careful not to play with it or it will get infected. And because it's at such an awkward angle, it's really for other people to see and you to just know that it's there. It's a very good transition piercing if you're looking to get something more than your ear lobes done but you don't want to get into a flesh-piercing yet. It's really easy to take care of and it looks absolutely wonderful.