Apologies in advance for any vagueness that might come across in this, as it was about 6 months ago I had my darling anti tragus done and my memory isn't what it used to be.
At A Glance Author Lexy Contact allergy_2002@hotmail.com When Six months ago Artist Rob Studio Punktured Location Brighton, UK Anyway, to the story at hand: My anti tragus.
I'm no stranger to piercing, 6 months on from the anti tragus I have 13, all of which I adore and I am, of course planning for more, and at the time I already had my daith and rook pierced and a retired tragus piercing. It'd been a while since I'd had my rook done, beautifully I might add by Tom at Punktured and I was having cravings for another piece of metal. I'd browsed BME looking at all the stunning pictures of the piercings and decided that the anti tragus was definitely a different piercing. It could almost be mistaken for a standard lobe piercing with a bar in it but with a ring in it looked awkward, almost misplaced and definitely funky. It was love.
I decided to read peoples stories about the anti tragus and soon learned that it was a pain for a lot of people. Lots of people had excruciating pain and no end of trouble with them. This worried me a little but not enough to put me off.
I picked a day and dragged my boyfriend into Brighton so I could go to see the lovely people at Punktured. I browsed around a little at all the jewellery in the cases and then stepped up to the front desk, declaring my name. I was given the usual form to fill out to say I was over the age of 16 and I wasn't under the influence of alcohol or drugs. I was asked whether I wanted a barbell or a CBR- Barbell please!- and what gauge I wanted. Then I took a seat with my boyfriend on the funky cube in the waiting area and waited.
My name was called and Rob (the same piercer who had pierced my daith back in the summer) took us through to the small, immaculate, back room. I recognised the smell of "the dentists" and looked around the room at the auto clave and the various certificates on the wall. I hopped up, with some difficulty being as short as I am, onto the chair and got myself comfortable.
Rob was pleased I actually wanted an anti tragus piercing in the traditional sense of the placement, as he said a lot of people came in asking for anti tragus's when they were really after snugs. He put a little dot on my ear and asked me to check in the mirror. I looked and asked if it could be moved a fraction to just under the bit of my anti tragus that sticks out, in the small dimple. He placed the dot where I asked and said that it would probably be a bit easier to pierce with my placement than his. (phew!)
I got back up on the chair and prepared for what was to come. Rob was his normal calming self and the piercing was over in a flash. It was a little painful, more so when the jewellery goes in, but it's over so fast that it's quickly forgotten. I was given the usual after care sheet and went on my merry way.
Fast forward a week.
I was cleaning my anti tragus as I normally did with my salt water solution and to my horror one of the balls fell off. Mum and I eventually found the escapee and put it in a mug of boiling salt water and then tried to get it back on the bar. Eventually after much struggling, swearing and panicking on my part the ball was firmly back on the bar. My anti tragus was feeling pretty traumatised by the whole experience and swelled up to cover the entire length of the bar. It still hadn't gone down a few days later so I decided to go back to Punktured to see if they could change the bar for me.
I went back and saw a different piercist- J. She was so bubbly and friendly, and I explained to her I'd had my anti tragus pierced there a couple of weeks earlier and that it was swelling up. She found the paper work with all my information on and led me into the small, back, piercing room. She peered at my anti tragus and confirmed that it needed a longer bar and that she'd be happy to change it for me, free of charge.
She left the room to find a longer bar and on her return unscrewed one of the balls and slipped the bar out. She was amazed at how easily it came out; she was expecting it to be tender and harder to remove. She then slipped in my new long bar, screwed on the balls and I left a very happy camper. Immediately my anti tragus felt better, the pressure from the swelling was gone and in a few days so was the swelling. I still have the long bar in but I'm planning on finally getting a funky BCR some time soon as a reward for it being so fantastic.
Since then I have had absolutely no trouble with my anti tragus at all. It has to be my most well behaved piercing. All my others have suffered, at one point or another, an annoying hypertrophic scarring lump due to irritation. It gets crusties like all the others do but besides the initial swelling it has been an angel.
If you are worried about the trials and tribulations that are an anti tragus piercing, like I was, but you love the piercing in all its quirky glory I think you should go for it. Everyone is different and just because some people have problems doesn't necessarily mean you will too.
Happy Piercing!