Well this is the story of my self-done or DIY tragus piercing. This is my first submission to BME, although I've read over as much of this site as I can over the last few months.
At A Glance Author Dylan Contact Godlessangel@gmail.com When A week ago I'm a 16 year old boy, currently I have my earlobes pierced twice each, with one lobe stretched to 8mm and the other stretched to 4mm. I also have two labrets, or snakebites, as they are commonly known. I've always found the tragus to be a very pretty spot to get pierced, and as my first DIY piercing, I wanted a piercing with a low pain level, just in case I messed something up.
I'm going to start now by saying that if you are planning on doing your piercings yourself, please think again. The risks of complications are increased dramatically, not to mention the placement will almost definitely be worse than if you went to a studio. Having said that, I know some people are like me, and have the feeling that the entire process of getting a piercing is a very personal thing, and are going to do their piercing themselves. To those people, I'd just like to say that you should follow my lead, and use sterile piercing needles and jewellery, which means they've been autoclaved, and will only be used once.
On the night I pierced my tragus, I waited until about 10PM and my parents were both asleep, at which point I began preparing for the piercing. I cleaned my bathroom as best I could, and then grabbed five 14G needles and my sterile 14g labret stud, which I had decided was the jewellery I wanted to wear. I washed my hands, and made sure that I had several tissues on hand for blood, as well as a glass of water to drink, and finally decided I was ready. I took a good look at my tragus, and drew a dot where I thought would be the best placement. I then spent about 15 minutes looking at myself and mentally preparing for the piercing. I eventually came to a point where I realised that it was now or never, so I carefully took a needle out of its' packet, lubricated it, and prepared to put another hole into my body where it didn't belong.
When thinking about this piercing, I had originally planned to pierce it from the inside of the tragus out, so that having the jewellery follow the needle through would be easy. Unfortunately, due to the shape of the ear, that proved to be impossible, so I opted to simply pierce from the outside of the tragus in. After lining up the needle with the dot I had drawn, I slowly but surely pushed the needle through. When the needle first broke the skin, there was a sharp prick of pain, however, this instantly subsided, and I pushed the needle further through my ear. There wasn't so much pain as a feeling of a lot of pressure, and the needle was quite hard to push through. I think that if I hadn't lubricated the needle then the whole experience would have taken quite a lot longer. As I the needle through the cartilage there was suddenly a sound. Unlike several of the entries I have read here, it was not a pop. Instead, it sounded more like a crunch, sort of like if you stepped on a cornflake. After that, it was just a matter of pushing the needle the rest of the way through, and out the skin on the other side. I then proceeded pushing the needle the rest of the way through. This involved me moving both the needle and the tragus to an odd angle in order to push the needle through all the way. I pushed the stud through behind the needle, and screwed the ball onto the other end of the stud (this was probably the hardest and most time consuming part of this whole experience, but I eventually got it on). I then realised I had been sweating quite a bit, probably in anticipation. However, the piercing was almost disappointingly painless, so if you are planning on getting it done, don't be worried.
Anyway, it's now been six days since I did the piercing, and all seems to be going well. I'm a little annoyed that I ended up putting the stud in backwards, but once it heals and I can change the jewellery it will all be worth it. The piercing didn't really hurt much over the following days, but it did kind of ache. When I accidentally bumped the piercing it did hurt, and I can imagine wearing headphones would not be very enjoyable, so I've avoided it so far. Sleeping the first night was difficult, but since then it's been a breeze. The aftercare has been simple, just washing it with hot water mixed with sea salt (q-tips have proved a lifesaver here), and I've encountered no problems so far.
This experience has been quite an enjoyable one. Looking back I can see that I wasn't really that organised, but I've learned quite a bit for next time I pierce myself. I'd like to recommend anyone wanting this piercing to get it, as it is very pretty, and it definitely doesn't hurt very much at all. I'm very happy that I went and did this, and while I don't recommend DIY piercing, the fact that I did it makes me far happier than if I'd had a piercer do it, regardless of how bad my placement is.
Thanks for reading this, I hope it has helped you in some small way.