My left rook was 3 months old, and healing very nicely, and decided that I wanted to get one of my tragii pierced now that my rook was well on the road to recovery. I could not decide which ear it should be placed on, as my right ear was rather naked, and my left ear had my rook. In the end I decided that I would have my left tragus pierced, because it would look great along with my rook and 8mm stainless tunnels, I figured I would save my left ear for future piercings.
At A Glance Author Hayley Contact girlracer27@hotmail.com IAM *PpL3=Sh!T* When N/A Artist Mike Studio Piercing Doctor Location Auckland, New Zealand My friend Nevada was to come as well, and she was going to have her left tragus pierced also. We decided on the Piercing Doctor as he had pierced my rook for me and he did a very good job of it, so I thought he would be our best bet. We phoned up the studio before we left because Nevada would not have her parents with her, and needed consent. The assistant at the shop told Nevada that she simply needed to bring in a letter from her parent with their phone number, which I thought was a little lenient. We also asked how much it would cost, and it was $55 with a CBR.
We got the letter, hopped in the car, and my mum drove us to the Piercing Doctor. We arrived and filled in papers and then waited for a couple of customers before us to be pierced. Nevada wanted to be pierced first, but I was called first, so into the little clean room I went.
The Piercing Doctor has nice clean premises, and is very professional. He told me to sit up on the bed while he cleaned my ear, and sprayed it with a numbing spray. The spray felt very cold, but that is about it. He did not mark my ear, which I didn't mind - because there is not a great deal of variation in placement with a tragus. He then clamped my left tragus tightly, and with no warning, pierced it.
In a way I actually quite like the fact that he doesn't give me a warning, because then I'm not nervously anticipating the pain. The needle was through and all I felt was a slight sharp prick for a split second, virtually painless (nothing like my rook!). I felt a little movement as the CBR was being put through and I said, "Is the ring in?" to my surprise it was in and did not hurt one bit, just a little discomfort.
After 5 seconds or so the ball was popped in, and I was surprised and how simple and painless the experience had been. Mike then got a cotton ball and applied pressure around my tragus, he said it was bleeding a little, and that he was just cleaning it up.
Mike asked me if I was okay, and with a smile I replied "Yes!" I thanked him, and thanked him again, and he told me about aftercare. He said to clean it with a solution he gave me twice a day, and no touching with dirty hands. I went out to the main room of the studio and admired my new piece of metal in the mirror. It was a little bloody, but it was awesome! It looked perfect along with my rook and tunnels - just like I had thought. I showed my tragus off to Nevada and Mum, and then it was Nevada's turn.
She went it nervously, and came out smiling, with a metal ring in her tragus. We both talked about how painless it was, and how little it had hurt while mum sat patiently in the corner of the room, looking a little disappointed that now she had to pay some money. We both paid, and left, all smiles.
The next week our tragus's were great, and healing fine.
Although about 3 weeks after having my tragus pierced, it started forming a lump, I was not sure what this lump was, but later found out that it was a hypertrophic scar. A month later with a much bigger lump I returned to the Piercing Doctor and asked what I should do to get rid of the lump. He told me to get hydrogen peroxide 6% and use it day and night, and the lump will disappear. I was not too sure about using hydrogen peroxide - but I trusted my piercer.
I purchased a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and used it twice a day, it made my tragus fizzle, and the lump would turn white, and was quite painful. I continued this for around a month, the lump would come and go, and was always painful.
I then started using chamomile salt soaks, but this was complicated and time consuming, and in then end unfortunatly I was not patient enough to carry them on.
I then tried tea tree oil as I read that it works for some people trying to get rid of scars. The tea tree oil made my ear quite red, but the bump did get smaller, eventually it disappeared for a couple of days but then flared up worse than ever before. It left me not even being able to put my earphones in because the lump on the exit hole was so big, and painful.
Yesterday I returned to the Piercing Doctor, desperate for him to help me fix my ear. He recommended a new product called crystaide as a last resort, but to be honest I don't have the money to keep buying new products for my ear when I don't even know if they will work or not. I asked him if the scar had anything to do with the fact that I have a CBR in my ear, and if I would be able to have it changed to a barbell. He was very sure that it was not the CBR causing the problems, and that he couldn't change it for me because of the scar.
Its like a cycle, the ring is (possibly) causing the lump, causing a scar, which means my piercer won't change the jewellery for me, so the lump gets even worse. It has had a scar for about 3 or 4 months now
The scarring on the exit hole has gone down a little in the past couple of days, but it is still horrible to look at, and I hate having to explain to people why my tragus looks so bad.
I'm off to another piercer tomorrow for a second opinion, I am so fed up of my tragus, but I do not want to retire it. Let's just hope I get some good advice tomorrow.
The lesson I have learnt is that your piercer is not always right, just because they seem like a professional doesn't mean you have to follow their directions if you are not sure about them. (Ie. using hydrogen peroxide on a piercing that's trying to heal). If you can afford the extra dollars, a barbell might be a better option for your cartilage piercing.