I'd wanted to have my anti-tragus pierced for a while. At first I didn't know if it was a common piercing or even if it could be done. The fact that so many of my friend's had their tragus pierced made me want to do something different, and when I saw that piercing the anti-tragus was possible, and for the low, low price of £20, I thought why not?
At A Glance Author anonymous When Three months ago Artist Emma Studio Tribal Voice Location Plymouth I hadn't set a definite date to have the piercing done, but one morning I woke up and realised that I wanted it done very soon. I arranged to go along with one of my friends for moral support as I'd heard that it was fairly painful.
That week, my friend and I went along to Tribal Voice so I could have it done. I'd told my parents what I was planning, and my mum wasn't too happy. She hates piercings but I couldn't be put off. I was determined to have it done. When we arrived I filled out all the necessary forms and tried not to be too nervous. For some reason I was worried about this one, even though I was fine when I'd had all my other piercings. Eventually I was called into the piercing room. I felt more comfortable when I was sitting down.
My ear was cleaned and frozen and I chose to have a ring put in. Bars for the tragus and anti-tragus always looked a bit small to me and they were barely visible. I wanted this to be noticeable. Then came the actual piercing.
Even though my ear had been frozen, I could still feel the needle going in. I was surprised to find that it was quite painful. It wasn't the worst pain in the world, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. I was rather relieved when I was told that the needle was in and I just needed the jewellery to be put in. This was not completely straightforward either, as my second lobe piercing was knocked out as the ball was put onto the ring. Thankfully, the earring fell into my lap so I didn't need to scrabble around on the floor for it.
When I looked in the mirror at the finished result, I was very pleased. I loved the way that the ball nestled between the tragus and anti-tragus, I loved the whole thing. The piercer and my friend both liked it, and most importantly, so did I. Definitely money well spent.
After about 10 minutes, my left ear started to burn and turn bright red. I'd been warned that the piercing would swell, but it wasn't that much bigger at this point. I didn't know whether to be annoyed because of the pain or pleased that I had an exciting new piercing. My ear felt very sore and I resisted the temptation to touch it. It was uncomfortable for about an hour, then the pain lessened slightly. However, it remained quite sore for the next week.
The next morning, I looked in the mirror and my left anti-tragus was three times the size of my right. It was a colourful shade of red and there was some dried blood around the entrance. When I cleaned this off, the holes looked far healthier, but it was still fairly painful. Over the next few days, my ear continued to swell, making it difficult to clean at times. I almost went back to ask for a bigger ring to be put in, but thankfully it didn't grow any bigger. When I touched my ear, it was strange to feel such a large lump there, and it stayed like that for a few months.
The healing process was simple and problem free. The most dramatic thing that happened was a small amount of bleeding a month in, probably due to the swelling. This stopped after I'd cleaned it and since then there have been no problems, other than when someone hugged me with their hand pressed tightly against my ear, which was incredibly painful and led to me being rather angry. gradually back to normal size.
My piercing is now fully healed. I haven't taken the ring out as I still love it, and my ear feels much more comfortable. The left anti-tragus is still bigger than the right, but it is shrinking and it's back to my regular skin tone now, rather than bright red. Some people love it and ask if they can touch it, others for some reason think it's disgusting. It's my favourite of all my piercings, and even my mum doesn't think it's that bad now. I'm incredibly pleased with it and would quite happily have another hole put into it f there was room. Sadly, I don't think that there is. Although the actual piercing was quite painful, it was definitely worth it and I'm very happy with how it looks now.