This is being written about 9 months after the fact. But it discusses all the problems I've had over this course of 9 months and the end result-my beautiful tragus.
At A Glance Author Nicole Contact Nicole@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Amy Studio ELT Location Pennsylvania I've always had the piercing bug. I used to pierce the ears of my stuffed animals and dolls if that says anything. I remember in first and second grade begging my parents for my lobes pierced. After 3 years of begging, in third grade I finally got what I wanted. Since then I've always enjoyed piercings. By the time I was in 8th grade, I had been to the emergency room once for a lobe piercing and had a really infected helix piercing. So I decided to lay off on the piercings for awhile.
Fast forward to the week before I left for my freshman year of college. I had been talking to my friend on the internet and she was telling me about her desires to get her nostril and navel pierced. She said she really wanted to go and asked if I wanted to go with her. Of course I agreed and decided that I would get my tragus pierced. We planned on a date and went from there.
On that date, I drove to her house and picked up her, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's friend and we started out on our adventure. We arrived at the studio about 20 minutes later and we were both really nervous. Neither of us had ever gotten a real piercing done with a needle.
After getting into the studio and getting everything set up with the paperwork and jewelry, we sat down and looked through books of tattoos with her boyfriend and his friend. After about 5 minutes, they called both of us back and the piercer, Amy, decided that I would go first. I wasn't too nervous because I didn't know what to expect. I already had 6 other piercings, all done by guns, and none of them really hurt.
I got up on the table and Amy clamped my ear. I think this hurt the most. I had never experienced such an oddly uncomfortable feeling. She proceeded to twist my ear so she could get a better entry. She didn't really inform me of this so I was very surprised. She then pushed the needle through. WOW. That hurt. Really bad. After everything was done and the jewelry was in, I thought I was going to either pass out or vomit. Luckily I did neither. I just bled a lot. Then it was my friends turn. I watched her get her piercings, but I still felt like I was going to pass out.
We both went out to the waiting room together to show her boyfriend and his friend our piercings. They both laughed at me because all they could hear from the back room was "Are you okay?! Are you sure?" We paid for our piercings and left the studio. I made her boyfriend's friend drive us home because I still thought I was going to pass out.
After arriving home, I had to show my parents my new piercing and both of them freaked out because they had no idea I was planning on doing this. They were more upset that I didn't tell them I was doing this rather than the piercing itself. Oh well, they got over it.
A few days later I left for college. I used the cleaning spray that I had bought from the studio everyday and kept it very clean. It started to heal nicely and I guess I took this as it would heal the rest of the way itself. I only used the spray a few times a week. I guess I can say this was my first big mistake. Crusties started forming around my piercing, but no infection or bump.
Let's just say college didn't treat my piercing as nicely as it should have. I'm pretty sure it got bumped and smacked around by my friends at least once a week. Then it happened, I got the hardest smack to my piercing I had ever received. It hurt so bad that I started crying. Within a few hours, 2 huge bumps formed on both sides of the piercing. These lasted for a few months. It hurt and looked so bad that I almost gave up on this piercing. But being the tough girl that I am, I stuck it out. I'm really glad that I did.
Through all this trauma, I had the same short barbell that had been in there since the beginning. I went back to the studio where I got it pierced to see if they could help me change the jewelry but they told me to just keep cleaning it. A few months later, the ball on the end of my barbell finally fell off and I was able to change to a CBR. This helped my piercing tremendously. It healed up nicely after this change of jewelry and it is perfect now and I've had no problems with it.
Since this experience, I will not get any other piercing done with a barbell unless it's absolutely necessary. I believe this prolonged my traumatic experience because it was too short to handle the bumps. I had at one point believed that my piercing was a lost cause. But I was determined to fix it because I would not go through the pain of doing it again. So if you're having trouble with a piercing, make sure to clean it and keep it as happy as possible and if you can don't give up! But don't be too afraid to ask for help!