A few months ago I decided I wanted a new piercing, something not a lot of people had & something that I could be somewhat original with. Since I only had a 3 lobe piercings done in each ear, anything new was going to be a big deal for me. After looking at all the possible piercings for my ear, I finally narrowed it down to my industrial & my tragus. After looking & asking around I decided that way too many people had their industrial & I didn't want to follow the crowd so much. I decided to take the road less traveled & get my tragus pierced. It was just so cute!
At A Glance Author Danielle When A month ago Studio the rock Location albany, new york I asked around to the people I knew had it done & researched it like crazy & everyone that had it said that their tragus was their most painful piercing ever. Although this scarred me off a little, I was so set in getting this piercing, it was too late to go back. I just wanted it too bad. I looked in my area for a nice piercing/tattoo place to get it done & decided on one that had done a good job on some of my friends belly buttons.
However the weekend before I planned on going to get pierced, I was in New York with my Boyfriend & he pointed out a place that did piercings. Although I don't recommend just walking in to any old tattoo shop & getting pierced, I used some good judgment & decided that the place was nice, clean, & the people were friendly & the prices were reasonable. Finally I was getting pierced & I didn't have to wait any longer!
There was some paperwork to fill out, we paid & then the man at the counter told us it would be about 10 minutes. Waiting had to be the worst part of it all. Finally the piercer came in & started taking all the instruments out, with his gloves on. He talked about cleaning it & not to touch it & gave the whole speech on infections. Everything was really clean & I was happy to see that everything he used came out of a sealed wrapper. I told him to do my tragus first just in case the pain was so bad I couldn't deal with getting my cartilage done. I squeezed my boyfriend's hand really tight as he put the clamps on, which didn't hurt at all & told me to take a deep breath in, on the exhale he slid the needle through the small piece of cartilage. There was no pop or crack sound that some people talk about & I was surprised to find that it didn't hurt at all. I'm not sure that this is the best way to describe it, but the only way I can is as an uncomfortable poke. He took the needle out & slid the 16 gauge barbell through & it was over. I asked if it bled & to my surprise he said no. Next he did my cartilage which caused unimaginable pain & a cracking/popping sound. That ear was purple for the rest of the day & I couldn't wear my hair down for like a week.
After about two weeks of having my new tragus piercing I noticed a small bump next to the opening of the hole. I was terrified it could be a keloid (a small bit of protruding scar tissue) & researched everywhere on how to get rid of it. I found that other than surgical removal, you really can't get rid of a keloid any other way than waiting it out & seeing if it goes away. There really isn't a way of preventing them either. I thought oh no! I have this beautiful little piercing that I'm going to have to take out because of this stupid bump. I continued washing it with the salt water & I tried keeping it exposed to the cold air because I had heard that the cold helped minimize them. Luckily about three weeks later it started get smaller & looked as if it were going away. Now, about a month & a half after I had originally got it done, it's looking great again although the annoying bump hasn't disappeared completely yet.
I love this piercing & even if it did hurt, I think it would totally be worth it. I'm even considering getting my other one done as soon as the one I already have completely heals. Everyone who sees it can't help but compliment it. The only hard part is the cleaning & turning because it's in an awkward place in your ear, but other than that I love it & it looks very cute. If you do decide to get this piercing I highly recommend getting the h2ocean spray for new piercings. It makes cleaning this particular piercing easier. It doesn't dry out my piercing & it doesn't sting or burn. It is just a great product. This is definitely a great piercing & if you want it I totally think it's worth every bit of pain it could cause. A great piercing for anyone looking for something unique & fashionable.