Hi, Im a fourteen year old male and I am from Ireland. I have my eyebrow pierced (experience here : http://www.bmezine.com/pierce/04-eyebrow/A70307/eye9mont.htmland) I also have a tattoo(experience will soon be here).
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Brian Studio Raven Location By The Coal Quay, Cork, Ireland I got my tragus pierced last December as a Christmas Present. The initial experience of that can be found here:http://www.bmezine.com/pierce/01-ear/A70123/earmesse.html
Brian, from the Raven pierced it. The second I got it done and saw it I was instantly disappointed. I hoped it would "grow" on me and I was even in denial over it! It was not alone very crooked but very very shallow. The ball was in the middle at the back and very close to the edge at the front. I finally retired it after 2 weeks. That was about three months ago. Now I am left with a tiny little red like dot/scar that is especially visible when I am cold. It sucks.
I decided to retire it because I noticed that the sooner I retired it, the sooner that I could re pierce it.
So the healing of it was as normal as any other tragus piercing. I was very religious with the aftercare. I would not let it get infected. I stupidly got it pierced over the Christmas Holidays (two weeks here in Ireland). I usually get my piercings over the Summer Holidays (which are 3 months long) so that they have time to heal for when school starts again and I can put retainers in them. My school strictly banns piercings. That sucks a lot.
When my tragus was 10 days old i went to my local piercing studio for them to take the ball of the 14g/1.6mm labret stud in my tragus as i could not remove it and the ball was too big and obvious for school. They stupidly thought I wanted them to remove the whole barbell (like what the hell?).
Anyway after i roared abuse at them to put it back in it thankfully slid in easily enough. Un-surprisingly enough, by the time i got home it had already developed two HUGE bumps. That night i tried switching to a smaller 16g/1.2mm barbell so it would be less obvious for school.
I did successfully and then I stupidly painted the tip of the barbell with skin tone nail varnish to conceal it even more. Needless to say that really annoyed it also. It worked in school though. I did this for about 2 days before i thought realistic and decided to retire it. It was only 2 weeks old and it was already through so much trauma. I probably would have been resistant and kept it for the whole school year if I actually liked it but I did not. It really annoyed me.
I still had to two HUGE bumps for about 2 weeks after that also. I still used sea salt soaks (1/4 of sea salt to a mug of coiled boiled water) every morning and night. After a week there was no change so I decided to get harsh with it. I used Savlon Spray (with the pink cap) like there was no tomorrow and sure enough, it decreased fairly fast. Result!
I was also very embarrassed about the two bumps. There were very big and shiny. They almost "glowed". There were so red. And when I rubbed a cotton wool bud (Q-tip for you Americans!?) spots of blood would appear but I could never see where the blood was coming from?
Personally, I did not find that Raven pleased me. But then again, they did my eyebrow piercing (nearly 9 months ago now) and that has healed very well and I am very much in love with the placement so I think that he was just having a bad day I went into his studio.
All in all I do not regret my tragus experience. It thought me the aftercare of cartilage piercings and how mad and painful they can be, although I wish i did not have to find out that way.
So from this, I hope you learned a few things. To sum it all up:
* Do not get pierced over a short break if your school does not allow piercings
* Do not change the jewelery after 10 days...especially twice!
* Go to a reputable piercing studio that you feel comfortable in and it also helps a good bit if you have any friends or family that have been pierced or tattooed there and
* CHECK THE PLACEMENT!
I cannot stress that enough. Remember, it is on YOUR body. Always ask if you can see the placement of any piercing you are getting.
Also, this summer, im getting my tragus re pierced, but this time as a tragus to conch industrial! And im getting a vertical labret. Cool huh?
HAPPY PIERCING, HAPPY HEALING AND GOOD LUCK.