I am not new to the piercing experience after my eighteenth birthday I had my nipples, tongue, nose, and six ear lobe piercing. I have had the experience of being pieced on my lobes with a gun (stupid idea!) and with a needle. For those of you who do not know, being pierced with a gun may seem like a good idea but it is unsterile, there is more pain (in my opinion), and the piercing it self will take a long time to heal. The reason I am adding this tidbit of information is because I have been ask by many different people if you can have a tragus piercing done with a gun.
At A Glance Author Ashlee Contact Ashlee@bme.anon When A week ago Artist I didn't even ask... Studio Second Skin Location GA I decided to pierce my right and left tragus many years ago. I never went through with it because I was afraid it would not be acceptable in certain jobs I have held. The need to have this piercing was still strong after four years and since I have been a student at a community college for the passed two years I decided now was as good a time as any. So one week ago I went to the local tattoo/piercing shop to inquire about a tragus piercing.
I arrived at second skin at about 5:30 in the evening on a Saturday and all three tattoo artist were hard at work. I asked to speak to the piercer and since he was finishing up a tattoo they invited me to wait for about twenty minutes. I decided I had nothing better to do, I really wanted this piercing and had questions that I wanted/needed answers to. I stuck around talking to some of the people that has had work done there. Most of the people I talk to had tats not piercing, so I could not get any feedback about the shop. Now I should probably put in I know a lot of people who recommends them for tattoos but I do not know anyone who has had piercing there. My mission for the day was to get a feel for the place and have answers to my questions. Like all good plans they are usually ruined! After talking to the piercer for all of five minutes, He asked me if I needed him to put a pair of rings in the autoclave and I said yes without thinking. I let him pierce my tragus without even asking his name! Not necessarily because I was confident in his ability, only because in my head I decided now or never. After all I have waited four years why should I wait another day?
Almost immediately I regretted making my mind up so fast and I probably should have left the shop. This shop looks a little like a hole in the wall, it wasn't dirty but it also wasn't doctor's office sterile. I became nervous when he started to lay everything he needed out before calling me into the room. When I notice that I walk back and started watching what he was doing. He had not opened the sterilized packages but I felt I should still be in the room none the less. He had me sit on a stool and turn my head toward him. He first decided placement. Then he swiped my right tragus with the sterile soap stuff and poked the needle through with ease, in a few more seconds the jewelry was in place. He handed me a mirror and it looked beautiful! So I said OK to the second one. The second one was a little more difficult. The needle did not go through as smoothly; he had to pause about half way through before applying more pressure to the needle. Then when he was putting in the jewelry he had trouble finding the hole in the back. My left side hurt like hell but only because it took a little more work to get the jewelry in. I have read some stories were the individual heard a "pop" sound, I did not hear this and the actually piercing was pretty painless. My biggest issues came in the week following my piercing.
After I paid for my tragus I was hand a sheet of paper that included aftercare instructions for all types of piercing and was told to have a nice night. While I was pretty piss-off at first that he did not even attempt to explain anything to me. I became VERY piss-off when he started to deal with another customer before I was finish talking to him. I tried to interrupt him to ask him a question; he looked at me and said everything I needed was on the paper. So I left. My aftercare regime began with dial soap twice a day but by Wednesday my left side was infected and my right was at risk of getting infected. On Wednesday night I did a sea salt soak on my tragus hoping it would help. Let me put it this way before the soak my left ear was THROBBING, after one soak the pain was almost all gone! Thursday I returned to the shop to ask if they had a recommendation to help clear the infection and was told to be patient and clean them twice a day. So I received no help there. My regime now consists of a salt soak in the morning before my shower, then I wash them with Dr. Brommer's baby mild organic soap at the end of my shower (after washing my hair). At night I only do a sea salt soak and change my pillow case EVERY night. This has worked beautiful for my piercing, the infection was gone two day after I started soaking them. Before this experience I never realized what a big impact sea salt makes, I never did soaks with my other piercing and now I know they would have healed much faster! I guess there are two things I want for people to take away from my experience:
1. If you are uncomfortable with the place or artists LEAVE!
2. Use Sea Salt Soaks! They work wonders and the salt only cost $2!