I spent weeks looking for a follow up piercing to my double navel piercing and couldn't see many I liked (or could get) and that I could hide for school (yes, the teachers at my school are really strict about piercings and only let you wear one pair of plain studs, how boring) Then I came across the tragus piercing...it looked great! And also slightly different as most people have at least one lobe piercing and then some in the helix, but this was different. I had never seen anyone with it before. So I did a bit of research on BME and read all the stories I could. Most of them described pain and discomfort getting the piercing and afterwards. Was a bit off putting but I still really liked this piercing.
At A Glance Author Lozz Contact Lozz@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Dave Studio Bananas Location Basildon, Essex. UK After the various piercings in the past, my parents weren't very willing to let me get anymore. The fact that they both hate piercings doesn't help but, after much persuasion, my mum finally agreed to let me get my tragus pierced.
So, me and my friend headed off to Basildon and went up to bananas. I was really getting nervous and it didn't help that someone in the waiting room had had theirs done and said it hurt a lot and it took ages too heal. But I was determined to get it anyway. Bananas is only tiny, with one piercing room, but it smelt clean, kind of like a hospital smell) and everything was very organized and there was a friendly atmosphere and I felt very re assured. I filled in the necessary forms (took a while as I was shaking but I got them done) and was all set to go.
The piercer called me in (Dave) and asked me to sit down. He put all the equipment in the autoclave so I had to wait as they sterilized. I was nervous and shaking like hell so I was asking a lot of questions and he answered all of them with no problems. He said it won't be too painful and it should heal well as long as I looked after it properly. He spoke to me a lot and this helped calm me down.
Once the autoclave had finished, he marked me up and asked me to check and at first it was a bit to close to the side of my head, so he re did it and it was much better the second time. He opened the needle in front of me so I knew it was sterilized, and then we asked me to take some deep breaths and then there was some discomfort as he put the clamps on and asked if he should do it fast or slow and I obviously said "do it fast" and he laughed. I was expecting all this pain, that it was going to be so much pain I'd cry or something but there was none, all I could feel was the clamps. When he moved away a bit I asked him if it was done and he said it was. I was shocked, where was all this pain I'd read about on BME and heard about? I was hoping to do some theatrical pain dance or something. Haha. The worst bit was the clamps cause of how tight they feel, and he said I have a small tragus so he had to pull it a bit, and the putting the ball on the CBR but that's generally always worse than getting the piercing itself.
I was a bit worried about the healing as I had a cartilage piercing reject before and the tragus is just like a big lump of cartilage, so I was worried it'd do the same but so far so good. It's been just over 6 months now and it's fully healed. Never had any pain, even when I slept on it and I had no soreness although it was slightly swollen for a day or two, but it was never any trouble. I just used salt soaks and a wound wash on it for the first 6-8 weeks and I had no trouble with infections and the like. Within weeks the swelling had gone completely and I was able to move the ring up and down and twist it (not sure if I was supposed to though, hehe). I'm too nervous to try taking it out though, but that's just me. I think it looks so cool and I love it. And I can still wear the earphones with no trouble, which is a very good thing.
All I can say is if you want it, get it. And if you're ever in Basildon shopping centre, I recommend 'Bananas'! Just keep it clean and don't mess around with it too much as it's healing. It's a great piercing, go for it!