I decided to get my tragus pierced in December 2004 pretty much on a whim. I had seen a couple of people with the piercing and thought it looked attractive, as well as was still fairly uncommon, and I had wanted another piercing in my ear, so I decided to do it. Of course, at that point, I knew nothing about the piercing "scene" in Winnipeg, nor did I know what did or did not constitute a reputable shop. So, I did some internet research and talked to a friend with an eyebrow piercing and decided on a place that I have since learned does not have the most positive reputation. I'd rather not say specifically where I went, but I believe that my subsequent problems with the piercing were caused in no small part from the work that they did there.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A year ago Artist I can't remember his name. Studio I'd rather not say. Location Winnipeg I called the piercing shop on a Friday and got an appointment for Tuesday. So, I took the bus down there in the freezing cold and went to the shop to get pierced. I found the "vibe" of the shop to be a little uncomfortable, but the guy behind the counter and the piercer were nice and seemingly professional, so I paid up and was taken to the back room for the actual piercing. I can't remember all the details of the procedure now, as it's been such a long time, but I remember him showing me the jewelry he was going to use, which was a tiny ball closure ring, and him marking a small dot on my left tragus to indicate placement. I was concerned that the placement wasn't exactly center, in fact it's fairly close to the bottom of my tragus, but he assured me that it would look better that way with the ring, and so I agreed. As for the piercing itself, it was pretty painful, but over quickly, and the worst part about it was probably the sound the needle made as it tore through my cartilage a few millimeters from my ear drum. It took him forever to get the ring in, because of the awkward placement and it's extremely small size, but once it was over there was only a mild burning sensation and I tipped the piercer, took my aftercare sheet and left.
The piercing became infected about two days afterwards, complete with massive swelling that caused pain when I moved my jaw, but the infection only lasted a few days, and basically cleared up on its own. After that, healing seemed to go OK, except it was really slow, and it hurt to put any pressure on my tragus. Ear bud headphones and sleeping on my left side were completely out of the question for several months. Also, after a little while a hard red bump (a hypertrophic scar) began to form above the piercing on the front of my tragus that remains to this day. It gets smaller and larger from time to time but never completely disappears, no matter what "home remedy" I try. It's not exactly attractive, and people constantly ask if my piercing hurts or if it's infected. Even after a year I know that the piercing isn't healed completely, as while it no longer hurts, I wake up every morning with "crusties" on it. It's also really close to the bottom of my tragus, even more so than it was originally, but so far has not rejected.
I've tried to take the piercing out on a number of occasions out of sheer frustration, but the placement of the ring makes taking it out completely impossible, even with tiny pliers. I've been back to the shop a few times to get advice on what's wrong with the piercing, and the only advice I was given was that I wasn't cleaning it well enough, and I was told that my tiny jewelry had nothing to do with my problems in healing and that a barbell would be worse and not better. The piercer also refused to remove the jewelry for me because he told me that removing it would only make the scarring worse, and to just clean it everyday with sea salt and water and it would heal. I don't know if believe any of that advice, and I want to get a second opinion on the matter. I don't know how much longer I'm willing to wait for my tragus to heal.
Anyway, in summary, my advice would be to do your homework before getting any kind of mod and find a shop with a good reputation. Usually, a place has a bad reputation for a reason. Also, if you have any questions about the placement or anything else to do with the procedure, speak up. It's your body and you know better about what you want than they do. I still wonder if the problems I've had and continue to have could have been avoided with larger jewelry and a better placement.