I'll start from the beginning, I guess.
At A Glance Author lobotomy Contact lobotomy@bme.anon IAM lobotomy When A week ago Artist me Studio my bathroom Location zionsville, IN About a year ago I got my first lobe piercings, gunned (stupid, but I didn't know better at the time) at Claire's. After that I started really getting into body mods, especially piercings. Unfortunately, my parents are really against multiple piercings, so I've had to do all of mine (except those first lobes) myself. About 7 months ago I double pierced my lobes by myself, and a few months after that I triple pierced them. (Maybe I'll tell you lovely people about those later.)
After that, though, I got the infamous piercing itch again. I wanted something that was unique, something that would set me apart from other people. I found the tragus piercing while wandering around BME, and I fell in love with it. I decided that whenever I got some jewelry, I would pierce my tragus.
"Whenever" turned out to be two weeks later. I got a set of barbells (one regular, one curved, and two circular; all 16 gauge) from Target. When I got home, I found a sewing needle, about an 18g, and some rubbing alcohol. I soaked both the needle and barbell in the rubbing alcohol, and I washed my hands with antibacterial soap. I started pushing the needle in, and it got halfway through before no matter how hard I pushed, it just wouldn't go through. I took the needle out and gave up, deciding the time just wasn't right for me to pierce my tragus.
The next day I was starting to regret my decision. I was looking at bme again, and I REALLY wanted my tragus pierced. That night, I repeated the procedure, but I pierced a little lower than the first time. Crunch...crunch...crunch... I could feel every layer of cartilage crunching. After probably ten minutes, I felt the back of the needle break the last layer of skin. I'm not one of those people who can just shove a needle through their ear, I have to do it slowly. It didn't really hurt, it was just really sore. I went downstairs and went on the computer for a while, hoping my parents wouldn't notice the needle sticking out of my hair.
I went back upstairs to my bathroom and dipped the barbell in rubbing alcohol again. I took the needle out, and tried to put the barbell in, but the back of my tragus was closing up too fast. I put the needle back through to re pierce the back, and then I took it out to put the barbell in. Unfortunately, my mom knocked on my door, and by the time she left, the hole had closed up AGAIN. Exasperated, I took a piercing stud (18g) to temporarily keep in my tragus.
The next day, my friend told me I should try using a thumbtack, since it's about a 16g, the same as the barbell. I waited a few days so my tragus could heal a little and not be as sore. I took the stud out, put the thumbtack (dipped in rubbing alcohol) in, took that out, and then put the barbell (also dipped in rubbing alcohol) in. It worked. After it got less red, I found the camera and took some pictures, which I submitted to BME. You can find them in the tragus (obviously) section. :)
For aftercare, I did hot compresses with antibacterial soap two or three times a day. It helped a lot with the soreness. After a week, I decided to leave it alone since it wasn't sore anymore, and it didn't look like it was scarring or anything. When my friends found out, half of them thought it was cool and the other half thought I was crazy. A lot of people asked me if it hurt, and when I told them it didn't, most didn't believe me. Maybe I have a high pain tolerance or something. "WHAT THE HECK" is a response I also got. My mom found out two weeks after I did it, but she wasn't too mad. She also found out about the helix I did about a week and a half after the tragus. I'll be writing about that experience soon.
I guess I should tell you that DIY piercings are unsafe and you can get seriously hurt, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if you are going to self-pierce, research what you are planning to do and at least TRY to sanitize everything. All of my self done piercings have turned out well, but I'm definitely not a professional (though I hope to be one some day).
It's been two weeks and other than being sore as hell the first couple of days, there's been no problems. I'm hoping to do my tongue web in October, after marching band season ends (hahaha, band geek). It seems really easy to hide from your parents. :)