I decided a couple of days ago that I wanted to pierce my tragus. I'd seen a girl with a little bcr in hers while sitting in my Doctor's waiting room and it looked really good. And so as I already had the needle and possible jewellery, (a bcr and a labret); after reading some self piercing experiences online I decided to do it myself.
At A Glance Author Renegade-Timelord Contact Renegade-Timelord@bme.anon IAM Renegade-Timelord When It just happened Artist Me and my partner Studio My living room Location Staffordshire, UK I have a bit of an oddly shaped tragus, it kind of curved in the middle instead of being a smooth nub, and I needed to pierce quite deep and position it carefully.
So I went up to my room and put some relaxed music on the cd player to calm me, then looking in the mirror I gritted my teeth, positioned the needle, and started to push. For some reason the needle didn't want to go in, so I took it away and looked at the little spot of blood where the end had pierced the skin to be sure I was getting the right placement. I tried again to put the needle through with the cannula on it, but as soon as the cannula butted against the skin it stopped and it totally refused to go though, so I took the needle out again, removed the cannula and took a few deep breaths, then tried again.
I eventually got the 12g needle through quite quickly, the only noticeable painful part was the needle coming through the skin on the inside of my ear. I tried to use a piece of getting in the way too much and affecting the angle of the needle, so I just felt for the tip of the needle as it came through the inside skin of my ear and guided it between my fingers, I didn't even feel a pop or crunching.
I came downstairs to show my partner my triumph at having got the needle through, and asked him to help thread the jewellery into place. He first tried to guide the cannula onto the sharp edge of the needle so that I could then thread the ring through it from the inside of my ear to the outside. But the cannula decided to split and the end of the needle poked though its side.
He next tried to follow the needle out directly with the bcr, as I slowly pulled the needle out. But this ended up with the needle coming out and the ring refusing to come right through, it was about halfway though the cartilage, and the path from the needle was closed up quite throughly already.
So I looked in the mirror again and tried to put the needle back though the same path, this time with the cannula back on it, and I think it found almost the same path but not quite. My partner then tried to force the cannula along the needle into my ear, but as soon as it butted up against the cartilage it refused to go any further.
I was swearing and squeezing the arm of the couch where I was sitting by this point, it was pretty painful, and I'm usually good with pain.
I gave up and pulled the needle back out. I was actually a bit worried that I was going to pass out, I actually like some kinds of pain, but this was the wrong sort for me.
My partner suggested giving it one more try, so I took a break then lay down and he trimmed the cannula to a point and put it back on the needle, then reinserted the needle into the same hole and slid the cannula down it and through my tragus. I was cussing like a sailor by now, and had a grip on the back of his shirt. It was very painful.
But at last the cannula was through and he removed the needle.
This time we decided to put the labret into the new holes as it was straight and would seem to be easier.
He slid the end of the labret into the end of the cannula on the inside of my ear, and I very carefully managed to follow it through and then gave it a good dose of antibacterial/antiseptic spray, and screwed the ball on.
There was quite a bit of blood so I washed it with cotton wool and antibacterial soap.
My partner told me "well done for not getting 'ratty' with me" (ratty is colloquial British for irritable and shouty). My reply was that he didn't tell me to go and shove a big needle through my ear so it was my own fault really.
It looks pretty good, but I don't think it was worth the amount of difficulty it caused, I should have had it done by a professional.
The pain has gone now and its just a dull throbbing.
The inside of my ear is quite scratched from the end of the needle poking it too.
I'm taking some anti-inflammatories and painkillers, but I can't sleep on that side at the moment anyway as I have a new Industrial in it which was done by a professional piercer two days ago.
Hopefully things will go more smoothly from now on, and also hopefully I haven't badly messed up my tragus' cartilage. I will be following a careful aftercare routine to try to minimize any problems.
This definitely wasn't the best piercing to do on myself, I would recommend going to a professional.