Well, it's been just over a month since my last piercing (a second navel piercing, which was done professionally) and I was itching for something new. I have my tragus pierced on my left ear, and for ages I have wanted my anti-tragus done on my right ear.
At A Glance Author sarah Contact sarah@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Me! Studio My bathroom Location Northampton, UK I will say this now, I have self pierced before (my labret, and a failed attempt at a navel piercing), but would definately NOT recommend it unless you are ABSOLUTELY confident you know what you are doing, and you use proper, sterile equipment.
So, anyway, I woke up this morning and decided that today was the day I was gonna do it. I don't have to be at work till 5.30 this evening, so it would have plenty of time to settle.
I got out my needles and stuff, and sterilised a titanium 14G BCR, while this was sterilising, I put some gloves on and got my needle ready. I decided not to bother with clamps, as it was very awkward to try and keep them in place, so I just did it freehand. I lined up the needle and started to push. The first half went through pretty easy, and was relatively painless, but then, suddenly, the needle was stuck! It was sore when I moved the needle, but I was determined I was gonna do it. So, I sat myself on the edge of the bath and pushed REALLY hard. I heard the familiar crunch that has accompanied all my cartilage piercings, and I was through the cartilage, but still had to push the needle through the back layer of skin. I pushed again, and felt the tip of the needle come out the other side.
Then came the hard part - getting the BCR in. After a good 10 minute struggle trying to line it up with the end of the needle ( which is very hard, because of the positioning, you can't see inside your own ear!) I decided I couldn't do it, and that I would take the needle out, and put the jewellery in from the front. At first, this seemed to work, and it went halfway through with no trouble. When it came to the other side though, I couldn't get it out the back,no matter how hard I tried. As I'd only got the tip of the needle through the back, the hole was too small. Then I remembered a 16G curved barbell that I bought ages ago and never used, and thought that would fit. Another half hour later, and still no luck, I could still only get it halfway through. I was SO disappointed, I really wanted it.
I looked at several stories on BME to see if this was generally such a difficult piercing. I only found one other story of a self done piercing, but some of the stories of it being done professionally described a similar struggle. I REALLY REALLY wanted it, so I decided there was no way I was gonna give up. Back to the bathroom I went, and out came the needle again. As this was a good hour after my first attempt, I think the back half had pretty much closed up. This time I just pushed it the needle really hard, and it crunched through much easier, and I managed to get a better angle too. I also made sure I got the needle all the way through properly, so I could fit the BCR in the end. All I had to do then was pull the needle out, following it with the BCR, which was relatively easy, and was only uncomfortable, and as soon as it was through, any pain was gone. I clicked the ball in, and was done. The result looks AWESOME! I cleaned the blood (there was only a tiny amount, I hardly ever bleed) with some saline ( I had to make some fresh, I had forgotten that I'd given mine to my boyfriend after I did a 14G piercing on his earlobe!), and packed away my stuff.
This was about half an hour ago, and already I'm totally in love with this piercing. It really looks amazing, though I say so myself. I would totally recommend it to anyone who is thinking about getting one. The pain was really not that bad, and I did mine myself!
Once again, I will say that you should never self pierce unless you are 100% confident in your own abilities. Also, with a piercing like this, it would definately help to have someone else there to help put the jewellery in, seeing inside own your ear to line it up with the needle is pretty damn hard!
Anyways, happy piercing folks, and remember, be careful and sterilise EVERYTHING! Have fun peeps!