Two days ago I went to get my left tragus pierced. I had wanted it done for a while now but was scared off my some storied on BME! Eventually I totally psyched myself up for it and went in after work. I didn't need to make an appointment as it was a walk in service. I had heard that Tribal was a really reputable body art studio so I went there.
At A Glance Author Kim Contact Kim@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Sarah F Studio Tribal Location Edinburgh I went in and had to wait as a girl had her lip pierced twice but she didn't look ill when she came out so I started to feel a bit better. I looked over the tattoo books because I'm thinking about getting a cover up done on a tiny one I had done earlier this year.
I filled in a form to say that I was over 16 and Sarah asked me to wait for a couple of minutes while she set everything up. As she did this, I began to feel more and more nervous but I looked over the pictures on the walls of different piercings.
Sarah sat me down and answered all my questions, especially about the "pop" or "crunch". There is no such thing! The noise is simply the needle scratching on the receiving tube. I also asked about whether to get my left or right tragus pierced. I wanted my left one done but as it was thicker than my right I was worried it would hurt more but Sarah told me it wouldn't make a difference. She then placed a dot on my tragus after wiping it with an antibacterial wipe. No freezing spray and no clamp were involved, thank god!
After reading many horror stories about blood dripping into people's ears when they are lying down I was relieved to be sitting up. I asked Sarah if it would bleed and she said in the whole time she has been piercing, only about 2 people had ever bled.
She then told me to tell her when i was ready and before i knew it the needle was through. I'm not going to lie, it did hurt especially when she was putting the ring in but she did it all so quickly that I hardly had time to think about the pain.
When I looked in the mirror, I was so pleased with the result. I don't have many other piercings, just my lobes and my cartilage at the top of my right ear so I think it looks better because of that.
I am terrible with needles, but Sarah was a legend, totally kept me calm and showed me that everything had been properly sterilised and the needles were only used once.
She then gave me a sheet of aftercare instructions and told me to use salt water to clean my tragus twice a day and when I asked if I could use germolene she said it was better not to. I also asked when I could come back in for her to change the ball to one with a gemstone and she said it would have to be a minimum of 2 months.
Straight afterwards my whole ear felt hot and it felt like I couldn't move the left hand side of my face without it stinging and pulling on the ring. I went to see a commedian a couple of hours later who was hysterical and it did hurt my ear but I solved that problem by drinking A LOT!
I slept on it the night i had it done and it didn't even hurt. It's well worth the pain and the fact it hurt a bit to smile, laugh and eat afterwards. I've been cleaning it properly 2 times a day with salt water. I'm a really hygienic person so I always wash my hands before touching it. I havn't been able to move the ring back and forth through my ear yet which worries me a bit but i'll keep trying once the swelling goes down a bit.
I have hurt it a couple of times when I've forgotten it's there and smacked my phone off it but it's nothing too bad. I was a bit scared of washing my hair as it is really long and was worried it might get tangled round the ring but there were no problems there at all.
I'm so glad that I've had it done, it doesn't hurt for long at all and that is coming from someone with a really low pain threshold who absolutely hates needles and even thinking about them. Just make sure you go to an experienced piercer with a good reputation.
I would definitely reccomend it and can't wait to get some cute jewellery for it once it has healed up properly. Don't be scared of it at all but make sure you think about it before hand. I looked up BME to make sure I had all the information before I had it done.