One day I decided I wanted to get another piercing... I had had my helix done about 4 years ago and even though I had a lot of trouble with that one and kept getting infections for a year (fighting off all of the people who told me to just take it out!) I had the piercing bug again! The question was: where would my new hole be?!
At A Glance Author Tamara Contact Tamara@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist It was an aprrentice Studio Polymorph Location Newtown, Sydney I had three places in mind: my tongue which I have been wanting to get done for ages (but I am too scared of getting problems with my teeth), my nose (but I am going to be a teacher and most parents don't like seeing teachers wearing and doing the things that they are warning their kids against), or that little piece that sticks out from the inside of your ear (that was all I knew it as then).
My boyfriend vetoed the nose and I am too chicken for the tongue, so it was another win for the ears. I loved it when I told people that I was going to/ had gotten another hole in my head :D.
A friend took me, my partner and my little brother down to a place that he goes to a fair bit, and one where the apprentice does piercing for $10, which we liked the sound of... The jewelery though was very expensive (next time I will look into the whole cost more...). If I was getting another piercing I would just pick something that was cheap, because what I ended up picking cost $95 (labret stud with a ball backing and a cubic zirconia on the front), and after the swelling went down I ended up deciding that I wanted something smaller. (AND on top of that because the earring has a ball on the back end I can't put it back in myself even when I do want to wear it.)
The piercer was great. So far I have only had good professional experiences, where I have been talked through the process and shown that all of the equipment was clean.
The boys were all more nervous then I was. My little brother couldn't keep still he was so excited and had the phone out trying to record it all...
But two deep breathes and it was all over. I don't think I even flinched.
For me this piercing didn't really hurt (comparatively my helix hurt more but not by much). For me it has always been the jewelery getting put in that hurts the most, because the piercer needs to move things around a bit more to get it in and put the back on.
For the first two days I didn't even feel that I had had anything done, (even when I was sleeping on my ear) although I was expecting the throbbing and the swelling. These came on the third day.
I ended up getting lots of swelling and some nights the throbbing was so bad I would get out of bed to bathe it in warm salt water, which gave a fair bit of relief. Then it became infected and even a dose of anti biotic didn't make the infection go away (not for my tragus infection but I was hoping it would help speed up the healing).
I was told that gold would help make the infection go away (usually that is all I can wear without some sort of reaction), so I went and got a new barbell, and asked the piercer who I bought it off if she would be able to put it in for me. She told me that the infection was worse than it looked and gave me a spray to use, but this didn't have any impact.
What did work was antiseptic cream. I just worked it into my piercing for about 3 weeks and after a month all of the swelling was gone and my tragus was back to normal.
This is a very difficult place if you want to put on your own jewelery and it took me ages to get it (I still can't put in my original earring with the ball on the end though). But I have decided that what works best for me are the small studs like what you would use for your nose. I just like to have a little shiny for my tragus and nose studs or small ones similar are great. They sit pretty flush, are easy to get in and out, and you can either bend the bar so that it hooks in easily, or you can wear a clear plastic back on your earring.
Like the rest of the stories I have read, I love having my tragus done. It's gaining in popularity so it's not so 'original' anymore, but it's still a cutie.
Hmmm I wonder where the piercing bug will take me next time!