I have forever wanted a needle piercing (you know something more than just a simple gun to the ear, not that there's anything wrong with that, even I have two lobe piercings in each side), and always toyed with the idea of having my belly-button, labret, nose, madonna pierced but by the time my mum would finally let me I no longer wanted them (just as well then hey).
At A Glance Author Sheyah When It just happened Artist Katrina Studio Lord Of The Jewels Location North Ryde, Sydney, Australia So when I met a new girl at work and she had her tragus pierced I was suddenly in love. It was perfect as it's something not of the norm in my hometown and it wasn't glaringly obvious so my mum approved (plus it was a needle piercing) and I was set, I wanted to get my tragus pierced.
A couple months passed when Lord Of The Jewels, a jewelry and piercing shop, opened up near my home. I saw the lady at the counter had her tragus pierced and asked all the usual questions like how much it costs ($110 including the piercing, jewelry, and aftercare gel), as well as how her personal experience with the piercing was. She was really friendly and honest about it all and we hit it off right away. Now I'm not saying that we'll be best friends for life but it is my recommendation and belief that you must like and feel comfortable with the studio and piercer.
Although I had found the perfect studio and piercer to do it, had the cash etc. my party pooper boss decided that she was going to crack down on us wearing jewelry during work hours since I worked in a café. Luckily my friend had had her piercing for a couple of years and was only a casual so she could take hers out with no problem but there goes my plans of getting it done as you have to leave it in for at least 3 months.
So again a couple of months passed me still itching to get my tragus piercing and after a really bad chain of events I was fired from my job. Thank goodness I had money saved up. But this was it I finally had my opportunity to get my piercing and after all those months of reading the stories and looking at the pictures on BME I was ready. Woohoo!
So that brings us to today when I went back and the piercer, whose name is Katrina by the way, and I talked it over again about aftercare, what I should be weary of etc and I found out she is a Capricorn like me (which in my book is another good sign as we're known for been neat perfectionists).
I paid the money and we headed into the room were everything was clean and all the equipment was in their sealed sterile bags. She cleaned and marked my ear and got me to check it out in the mirror, perfect positioning first go. I then lay down on the table and she got everything out ready to go. Okay clamp the tragus get the needle in position, breathe in-all lined up, breathe out-needle goes through, clamps come off, needle gets pulled out, breathe in-line up the labret stud, breathe out-labret stud goes through, tighten ball, clean up area and the very little amount of blood and that's it, all done.
Now the pain you get from getting this piercing done, for me, was not really that painful at all and I didn't have any numbing stuff on it. I could feel the needle going through each layer skin-cartilage-skin and it was incredibly not that bad at all neither was having the jewelry put in. For the next hour it tinged a bit to talk and move my mouth but after that it was fine and the redness was gone in about 45mins although it didn't really go quite red in the first place.
I'm now thinking of other piercings to get done but I think my next two body mods will defiantly be tattoos (that I created myself and have wanted to get for the past 4 years). All in all I think if you want the tragus pierced or if you're looking to get a needle piercing give the tragus a go it really isn't very painful and from my experience brings out your vain side (I was taking photos of it on my camera so I could look at it haha) but then again so do most mods.
Okay well the best advice I can give firstly is to really feel comfortable with the studio and piercer. I know I may sound weird to some but you get a vibe from people and places and if you aren't feeling a good vibe from BOTH then don't get it done or you may regret it later on.
Secondly me and my piercer Katrina believe that it is a better idea to get a labret stud to start out with as you won't have much of a chance to knock the piercing or spread infection by moving a ring, plus it heals better and personally I think that it's easier and less painful to change the jewelry afterwards as the hole's healed straight and not curved.
Lastly do your homework on your type of piercing, the studio and artist and always check with your boss that you can have a certain piercing as many workplaces won't allow you to get it done due to health regulations or just plain old not liking it a.k.a. "bad for the image of the company" etc.
I hope my experience helps someone out there gain more insight into this gorgeous piercing and good luck on you body mod adventures.
Oh and P.S. don't even think about drinking until after a couple of months have passed as you get terrible pain and bad healing and just trust me it isn't a good combination.
Note: There is no correlation between drinking alcohol and pain in a piercing.