Yesterday I got my anti-tragus pierced. I had been thinking about getting a new piercing for a couple of weeks and had toyed with the idea of getting my tragus done, maybe my rook, or maybe even my tongue, but the idea that really stuck in my head was the anti-tragus. I like it because its unusual and yet still subtle. So Saturday lunchtime was the time for me to get pierced.
At A Glance Author amanda Contact amanda@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Mark Studio Marks and Punctures Location Aylesbury, UK I finally managed to juggle a day so I had enough time to go, and went to my regular piercing studio, Marks and Punctures. Mark has done all but one of my piercings, and the other was done by Tim his partner at the studio, so I am very trusting of them and love the atmosphere there. I walked in feeling calm and excited and went through the usual signing of the disclaimer, showing my ID, etc, and then settled down to wait for Mark to finish the piercing he was doing. When he came out he glanced at my form and I didn't hear what he said but I saw his face drop slightly. This of course led me to panicking. Is this a difficult piercing? Does he not like this one? But my fears were stopped when the woman behind the till said "No! It'd be quite hard to do that on this lady who that form is for!". Turns out he had misread the form and thought it said ampallang!
When I went through to the piercing room I got that nervous but excited feeling that comes with every piercing I get, especially if it has been a while since the last one. He examined my ear, all the while chatting with me, and complimenting my scaffold to put me at ease. I reminded him that it was actually done by him! As usual I got my choice of colours, and while I could have gone for purple to match my scaffold bar, I went for bright green since I didn't really mind and thought matching it to my t-shirt was a good a decision as any. He settled me down on the bench and went about marking my ear and explaining the process and the fact it may come out at the back at a slightly different place than the mark, due to the clamp moving the cartilage.
I asked the standard question – "Does it hurt?" – to which he laughed and said it would pinch, what with being a cartilage piercing, but if I can cope with the scaffold, I can cope with this, which put me at ease. I know they hurt, but I also know that the sharp pain is only momentary.
He got me to lie down and put my head to one side and he attached the clamp, which didn't hurt at all. As it happened, he had placed the dot on the inside of my ear perfectly and the clamp allowed me to be pierced there. He counted down from three, and next thing I felt was a pressure on my ear and a pinching and slight popping sensation and it was done. He put the jewellery in and all I can say is that my ear felt really full! He let me examine it in the mirror and explained aftercare as well as giving me a sheet and telling me that if there was any problems at all to go straight back and they would see what they could do. He even gave me a lolly pop for "being a brave girl" - or as it actually was for the sugar in case I went into shock!
At this point I was just on the adrenalin high and couldn't feel any pain and was just thrilled to have it done, although about half an hour later I did get the shaky, slightly queasy feeling of my body saying "You just had a hole punched in your body! Do something!". Luckily this quickly passed and I was back to sneaking to the bathroom every five minute to admire my ear.
For the next few hours it throbbed slightly and now only aches when touched. Everyone who has seen it so far has complimented it (including all the people I work with - librarians!) and my mum didn't even mind! My boyfriend loves it and I think it has inspired him to get a new piercing! I think green was a wonderful choice as it seems to glow on its own and I feel very proud knowing I've got one of the piercings BME describes as " one of the most painful piercings". I have a feeling this is well on its way to being my most favourite piercing! Although I am already thinking about getting a snug done...