This is the story of my little anti-tragus that could....or could not as the case may be. It was done many years ago, more than 5 but not more than 10.
At A Glance Author Jennie Contact Jennie@bme.anon IAM JennieLynn When Five years ago Artist Melissa Studio PiercedOut Location San Jose, CA I have always been the one who wanted something "different" or "out of the norm". Since facial piercings were not an option for me at the time (I already had other things pierced), I figured that starting an ear project was a good idea. My ears are different shapes so what I could get done on one ear, I could not get done on the other. For example, my right ear can take an industrial whereas my left ear cannot. I was already stretching my lobes and had second, third, and forth holes already pierced that I was stretching as well. I wasn't really a huge fan of the tragus because I didn't really like the way they looked and thought that if I got an itch in my ear I wouldn't be able to scratch it to my satisfaction. I also thought that if it got infected that it would be more difficult to take care of. So after researching on the internet and speaking with Melissa at PiercedOut, I decided on getting my left anti-tragus pierced. Not really fully thinking it though, I neglected to take into count that I am a side sleeper and mainly sleep on my left side. If I had previously known that being a side sleeper effects some ear piercings, I wouldn't have pursued my ear project. If I had known what I was in for both with the actual physical act of the piercing and the problems I had healing afterwards, I wouldn't have gone through with it. But hindsight is always 20/20, right?
While I filled out my paperwork, Melissa gave me my aftercare sheet and said she would go over my aftercare instructions after the piercing had been done. I picked out a small 18g captive bead ring with a hemitite bead and away into the piercing room I went. Melissa prepped by laying out a few pairs of gloves, so I asked why she laid out so many (3 or 4 pairs) and she said that she prefers to change gloves after she touches things that have been autoclaved and things that have not been autoclaved. She got the needle and receiving tube out out autoclaved packages, some q-tips, a toothpick, a blob of opaque ointment looking stuff and a little cup that had gentian violet in it. She had me sit on the table so she could clean and mark my little nub of flesh to be poked. She marked it with the toothpick that had been dabbed in the gentian violet and had me take a look to approve the mark. I approved, so she had me lay down and turn my head to the side so she could get access to the area to be pierced. I noticed she bent the needle in a "V" and I asked her why. She said that if she didn't bend the needle, it would end up creating another hole or two in my ear in a place I probably didn't want to get pierced. I remember thinking to myself that after she pushes the needle through, getting past that "V" isn't going to be fun. Lordy was I right! She put the receiving tube on one side of my anti-tragus and the needle up to the opposite side. With a deep breath she pushed though, ok I thought .. this isn't that bad. Then a tug and a searing hot pain flared down the left side of my face. That was the damn "V" going through the freshly pierced hole. It was followed by the lovely feeling of cold surgical steel going through my newest piercing. VIOLA! I was done. She sat me up and cleaned up a little bit of blood and gave me through aftercare instructions. She made sure to tell me that if I had any problems or concerns that I should call or just come back to see her.
After a few days my new piercing began to swell, then it subsided as quickly as it had appeared. A couple weeks after my piercing came to be, it got infected and remained infected off and on for several months. I finally got my anti-tragus to calm down and promised myself that if this happened again I would take care of the infection and after it was gone, I would remove the jewelry. It happened again and I kept my promise to myself.
Many trials and failed ear related piercings later I came to the realization that my ears don't like to be pierced in any fashion, no matter what.
Eventually I was reduced to just having my 3/4" lobes and nothing else.