When I decided to get my anti-tragus, I had already had many piercings before that. I had just taken my industrial out of my left ear, and it was looking lonely, so I decided to put in an anti-tragus. I'd already had a rook and snug, and I'm not a fan of the tragus, so I thought that the anti-tragus would be perfect. I am one of those people who are absolutely in love with piercings, but down not have the appearance of the "typical" body modifier. Pretty much, I'm just not a scene person. Every time I get a new piercing, I take an old one out. The switch for this one was my industrial, but once I got there it turned out to be industrial and right nipple for anti-tragus, which I will explain later.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Three months ago Studio Venus Location New York The day I got my piercing I was in the city anyway because my family thought it would be fun to have a fun day in at Rockefeller Center (very bad idea). Being from Long Island, I spent a lot of my high school years in the city. However, my family did not, so it was horrible trying to get them to understand the subway and just the city in general. Next time I'm staying at college during winter break. After about 2 painful hours looking at post-impressionist paintings at the Met, I took a subway down to the East Village so I could get my piercing done. There had been a place down there that I had been going to since I turned 18 and could actually get pierced at a legit place. The atmosphere there is really wonderful, and I highly recommend going there if you are in New York. The best part of the location is that it's right around the corner from Two Boots, whose pizza I am absolutely in love with. When I was vegan, I could get pizza without cheese, which was a major plus for me. Also, around a different corner is an amazing authentic Nepalese store that sells that most amazing jewelry. Basically, if you go to Venus, you can have your whole day planned.
Once I arrived at Venus, I saw that the person who had done most of my piercings wasn't there, so I was disappointed. I had to settle for a lady I had never seen before, but she was really nice, so it didn't matter too much. I first asked the piercer to look at my nipple piercing, which I feared was migrating too much. It was, and she removed it for me. I prefer ear piercings so much more because they do not migrate as much as surface piercings. Sorry, that was a side note. Anyways, I then looked in the case to pick out my jewelry. There was a problem with the available barbells; they were either snug or too large. My piercer decided to pierce me with the larger one to allow for swelling and easy cleaning. She told me to come back in about two weeks to change to the smaller one.
When I sat down to get my piercing, I wasn't that nervous at all. She pierced me sitting up, which was different from how others pierced me. My piercer took out the needle and started to pierce through. Because that area of the ear is a lot thicker, the piercing hurt more than my rook. The needle took longer to go through and I had to lay down for a while after finishing. However, the pain wasn't even really that bad, just not as little as rook or snug.
For healing I started with salt soaks, but it was way too awkward. My inner ear started to hurt a lot from all the water, so I switched to bactine. Although a lot of people will tell you not to use bactine, I have never really had a problem with it. Some say the bactine can make your piercing itch, thus making you want to touch it, bringing bacteria into the piercing. However, I never really found that. I cleaned my anti-tragus every day about 3 times a day. After about two months I started to get a bubble behind the piercing, so I took a needle and drained out the blood. My piercing is now doing a lot better. The healing process has been fairly simple, and is not as unbearable as the industrial healing process.
Two weeks after I got the piercing, I went back to be fitted with the smaller barbell. The lady who pierced me was not there, so someone else had to put in the new jewelry. She seemed confused that I was switching the jewelry so soon, but did it anyways. In hindsight, I should have waited longer to switch the jewelry. The cleaning was a lot harder than with the longer one, and I was always afraid that the piercing would grow into my ear. It all worked out well though, so I guess the only thing waiting would have done is lessened my anxiety.
I'm really happy with my anti-tragus piercing. It looks fantastic and feels great. If you're thinking about getting one, do it!