Prior to this recent piercing experience, I had 17 varied piercings between both of my ears. I have always been a fan of ear piercings, and I have always put a lot of thought into the type of piercings I wanted.
At A Glance Author Alison Contact Alison@bme.anon IAM Alison0708 When A month ago Artist Chris aka BigNutt Studio A-1 Tattoos Location Franklinville, NJ It had been about 8 months since my last piercing project, and that "itch" began again. You know, that itch for more piercings. During that 8 month period, I was constantly looking up photos and reading the stories on BME trying to decide which realm I was going to cross into next. I originally was interested in the surface vertical tragus, but after extensive research online and talking to people who had it done, I realized that I wanted something that would heal better and would have a longer life span. I narrowed it down to the tragus.
I read practically every story provided on BME. I was torn for a while because the stories left me confused. It was almost 50/50. Half of the stories said the tragus was the most painful piercing, and half of the stories said the tragus could not even be felt. This debate delayed me getting the piercing because I have a very low tolerance for pain, and I was nervous.
After that "itch" finally engulfed me, I decided to suck it up, and go get it done. In the town I live is a piercing/tattoo parlor called A-1 Tattoos. I had gone there for my previous piercing project and have been there when my friend has gotten pierced. I already had developed trust in them, so I was definitely going there to get my tragi done.
My friend came with me for moral support. When I went in and told the piercer what I wanted to get done, he made me fill out a form giving consent and notifying him of any allergies or conditions I had. He asked me what kind of jewelry I wanted for the piercings, and I decided on a CBR(captive bead ring) because I had read from another story that they heal tragus piercings faster. My friend and I waited in the main room while he sanitized the piercing bench. I went into the room and sat on the bench while the piercer gathered all of the supplies he needed. My friend kept talking to me because she knew I was a bit nervous. I asked the piercer if this piercing was painful, and he told me that since I already had cartilage piercings, the tragus would be nothing, which reassured my nerves a bit.
He marked the placement, and I had my friend inspect and I checked it out in the mirror. When I gave the okay, he gathered the needle. He began with my right tragus. He told me to take a deep breath, and as I inhaled, the needle went through. I had been anticipating that feeling for months from all of the different stories I had read. It did not hurt AT ALL. I could feel slight pressure and I could even hear the needle going through(it sounded like wind), but it did not hurt in the least. I was literally shocked, and I think everyone in the room could tell. I then began to worry about when the jewelry would go in, because on previous piercings, that had stung a lot. Not this time. Again, I could feel slight pressure as the CBR went in, but there was no pain.
Then it was time to get my left tragus done. It was the same procedure. He asked me to take a deep breath, and pushed the needle through. This one felt more like a pinch because I think the initial shock had worn off from the first piercing, and my body knew what to expect, yet I wouldn't qualify it as painful. I felt the pressure again and could hear the "wind." The piercer put the jewelry through and cleaned up the tiny amount of blood that came out. Once he was all done, I jumped up to check out my new additions in the mirror. I was in love. They looked great! The piercer gave me cleaning instructions, which I already knew, I paid him for his service, and I left.
In the first hour after getting the piercings, I felt a lot of pressure. It didn't hurt, but it was very uncomfortable. The first night of sleep was nowhere near as bad as it was when I got other ear piercings. The first week I felt a lot of pressure, and the piercings were tender. It was strange to me because I could feel the piercings when I smiled, chewed, yawned, or moved my neck a certain way. By the second week, I basically had forgotten they were there unless I happened to bump the phone against them or my curly hair got caught.
This has been the best piercing experience I have ever had, and that's saying a lot considering now I have 19 ear piercings. I would recommend anyone to get this done. If you're nervous about getting this piercing, just read the stories and familiarize yourself with what to expect. Don't back out. Trust me, you won't regret it.