I had recently acquired a standard navel piercing about one month before my tragus escapade. As a tragus piercing is, in my opinion, somewhat more difficult than a navel, I thought it would be best to "test" the tattoo/piercing place before getting the allegedly more painful piercing.
At A Glance Author Cassandra Contact Cassandra@bme.anon When A week ago Studio Addiction NYC Location New York, New York I went to Addiction NYC after one of my friends got a tattoo at Andromeda, the more famous of the two places. However, the general atmosphere at Addiction NYC was more conducive to piercing. As with any good piercing studio, the piercing room is sterile, the equipment is new, and the artist is professional.
Admittedly, I wasn't sure I was going to get a piercing done that night. I knew that I was very interested in a tragus, but had only had cohesive plans for 3 weeks. However, since I was already there and my friend generously offered to pay for the piercing (Around $40 for a CBR, $50 for a stud or horseshoe) I decided to go ahead with it.
When piercing an area with as thick cartilage as the tragus, it's highly advantageous to go to a nicer (albeit more expensive) studio rather than risk infection, error, or unneeded pain in a cheaper place.
The piercing itself was uneventful and far less painful than I had originally expected; a dull throbbing rather than a sharp sting. My artist did the piercing freehand. As was the case with my navel, we spoke very little. While I was picking out jewelry at the counter we exchanged lighthearted banter; "Will I cry like a little girl?" "I hope that you do, I'd love to get the chance to point and laugh at you." While in the room, our chatter was reduced to "Have a seat, Lady." He fairly painlessly pierced my tragus. Although I heard a slight "pop," it was nowhere near the noise level described by urban myth. I thought I fortunate enough to have no blood flow.
In actuality, vascular activity near the site of any piercing is preferable; ergo the long healing times of cartilage which has very little blood flow. The tragus is supported by a network of vessels near the cheek, which expedites the healing process. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the piercing, stimulating the healing process. The fleshier the area, the faster a piercing will heal. (Example: Clitoral hood piercings are one of the fastest healing because of high amounts of blood flow to the area.) In short, blood can sometimes equal faster healing.
As a concerned owner of a new piercing, I was a diligent foot-soldier in the germ war. However, my overzealous attitude backfired when I foolishly bought Purell. I applied aforementioned sanitizer to my earring.
I immediately regretted that decision.
Purell is an excellent method for keeping one's hands clean before touching the piercing, however, it should not be applied directly to the wound. My piercing swelled and raged at me for hours.
The piercing was fine the first few days; it was so well assimilated into my body, I had forgotten it was there. However, last night, (day 4) I foolishly slept on it and have been forced to deal with the ramifications all day today. Although I can see no redness, the swelling and throbbing is difficult to deal with. Avoid telephones, harsh shampoo, (herbal is best!), and as for long hair... make sure it's tied back for the majority of the time. At the moment, my new piercing is in considerable amounts of pain; I slept on it the night before. Ifm sure that I will eventually give in and take Aleve, which will dull the pain and reduce the swelling. My cheek is in pain, near the temperomandibular joint, (TMJ) which is the squishy space just a little down from the tragus where the jaw comes together. Ergo, opening my mouth widely is out of the question. Ifll have to be more careful about phones and sleeping tonight. I also tried to put in my iPod earbud around the piercing which seemed to work at first, but Ifm sure now lends to the pain in my ear. Headphones of all kinds should be avoided for the cleanliness factor if not for the comfort. Resort to just putting in one headphone. Come on, you can suffer through if for a while. Then, buy very comfortable over-ear ones. Ah, the sacrifices made for the sake of a piercing.
I'd strongly recommend H2Ocean aftercare spray (www.h2ocean.com) to expedite the healing process. It worked wonders for my navel. Absolutely a miracle product. Applying a sea-salt soak is quite beneficial if you can stand the water in your ear, as is a slightly warm chamomile tea bag pressed to the piercing. Steaming in a hot shower removes the "crusties" (lymph secretions containing blood plasma; the substance in which red blood cells et all are suspended) I removed some brown crusties blocking the exit wound of the piercing which relieved some of the pain. Do so *very* gently with *very* clean fingers or tweezers; I feel that Q-tips are likely to leave behind little tiny bits of cotton.
Best of luck to all- the tragus is an exquisite piercing choice, straddling the borders of classy, feminine, and edgy.