My first actual piercing aside from the typical ear piercings was my navel. The excitement from that wore off about as fast as the minor discomfort, so I decided to go back and get something else done. I really wanted to do something more noticable. I contemplated my tongue (my mother discarded that idea fast - she told me she'd pretty much kick me out if I did it) and my nipples (a friend of mine decided that one for me - hers hurt so bad she couldn't sleep on her stomach for months) and finally settled on the idea of both my tragus. I had done it once before (not professionally - I did it myself. Bad idea.) and loved it. It's cute, different, and definetly easy to cover up if the need ever arose. I discussed the price with my piercer (it came out to be a fair bit, but I don't remember how much) and headed on down the same day to get it done.
At A Glance Author wnterbrn Contact painted.devil@gmail.com When Six months ago Artist Jerry Studio Body Creations Location Glendale, AZ I get to the studio and Jerry popped out of his office to say hi. I reminded him who I was and what I wanted done. He made me fill out a ton of paperwork and then we looked at jewelery. I chose two black titatnium 16 g rings.
He took me into one of the many piercing rooms and cleaned my ears with sterilizer and got the needles ready while the rings were in the autoclave. I asked the question I ask him every time I get anything potientally painful done: how much will this hurt? He told me it varies person to person, but typically it wasn't too horrible. This made me happy. The navel didn't hurt at all - I barely felt a pinch - so I figured he knew what he was talking about.
So, he marked the spots on my tragus and whipped out the needle.
I just looked up at the ceiling and waited patiently for the mild pain.
Hah. That hurt so damn bad I wanted to cry. It was the WORST pain I had ever experienced. So, side one was done and he flipped me over to do the other side. I wasn't too keen on getting the next one done, but I really think it looks stupid to only have one side.
The second one hurt even worse, and I think I must have bruised my boyfriend's hand for all the squeezing I was doing.
The worst part of the whole things was, as always, the putting of the rings in. The little balls were hard for him to get in my ears, and he pulled a bit, and I nearly screamed.
After they were all situated, I sat up and blood was pouring out of my ears. It was disgusting. He gave me a cotton-ball soaked in some cleansing solution to clean up the blood.
We went over after-care once more and I told him that piercing was addicting. He laughed at me, and I left.
The first few days my ears ached so bad. I had a hard time sleeping (you're supposed to sleep on your back - I always sleep on my side).
It took a few months for the pain to go away completely. It didn't hurt, per se, but they throbbed like mad whenever I bumped them on something. I also got blood-blisters on both ears, which Jerry said was caused because I had so much trouble sleeping on my back and would roll to my side throughout the night.
I got it done in March and they are finally healed. The blood blisters on nearly gone, and they don't hurt at all, even if I hit ears hard on something.
If you do get blood blisters, I recommend that you just leave the piercing alone except when you clean it. Do NOT use Q-tips to clean out the junk that collects on them, and don't pop them unless they are gigantic and you just got out of the shower or something. I recommend you don't pop them period, actually, but if you must, whatever. Also, HOT sea salt soaks really work to get the blood and liquid out of them. Once the piercing is healed completely, don't even mess with them at all. I stopped cleaning after 5 months and just left them alone. THe blood blisters are almost completely gone, and I am a very happy person. :)
The tragus piercings are kind of pointless, but you have got to love them all the same. Just beware, because they really do hurt a lot. And they bleed a lot when first done.
You might want to consider getting one side done at a time, because then you don't have to worry about sleeping on your back.