At A Glance Author snowmellen Contact snowmellen@bme.anon IAM snowmellen When Two years ago Location Ottawa, ON It all started when myself and several other students worked together at a store during the summer. Most of us were already interested in piercings and modifications to varying degrees, and often it was the subject of our conversations throughout the day. I'm not sure how the idea got into our heads, but we decided somehow that a staff piercing outing would be a fantastic idea, and really fun. We planned the day ahead of time, so that when we all finished our shifts we could all pile into the car and drive downtown to find ourselves a piercing studio.
The day finally arrived, and with much excitement we went about our daily tasks, and finally 3:00 arrived, so we were all done our shifts. Anxiously we each changed and performed small feats of hygiene in the staff washroom, and the three of us that were going (one friend had to back out at the last minute) were off.
It took about half an hour to drive downtown and Colleen, who because of athletics had never even had her ears pierced, was pretty nervous. She kept asking us as many questions as she could think up about everything. Stephen, my other friend, was trying to spook her a little, whereas I was trying to be calming. I think I won.
We got down to Rideau St., parked, and began walking up the street, peering at the plethora of shops available to us. We knew well enough which ones to stay away from, but that still left several reputable ones that looked quite clean and pleasant. We chose one, walked in and moseyed up to the counter, telling the girl there what we'd each like when she asked us. I was getting my tragus pierced, Colleen her helix and Stephen his eyebrow. We inquired about a group discount, and much to our pleasure, we were offered $5 off each piercing- very kind of them, considering the rather small size of our group, and their already reasonable prices.
We each filled out a form and showed our ID, and didn't have long to wait on a little park bench until the piercer called us into his room. He introduced himself (although his name went in one ear and out the other, I'm sorry), and Stephen immediately asked about his biomech tattoos. The piercer was extremely friendly and chatty, as he got everything set up for Colleen's helix (we had decided she should go first, to prevent her from getting the chance to back out). He had her sit on the table, and we were instructed to stand against the wall, no as not to lend any kind of contamination to the area by clustering up too close. He took great care in marking her, giving her two angles on which he could pierce, and asking her about the desired final look. She chose one, and was pierced. She gave quite the loud shriek before the needle went through, just out of anticipation, but was rather sheepish afterwards, as she hadn't found it to be that painful at all. He sprayed and wi ped down the table, and it was Stephen's turn, and all went smoothly as well.
Now it was my turn. He gave the table a quick spray down and wipe, changed gloves (he did this copious times) and began to set up as he got settled. He started to ask me where I would like it positioned in my tragus, then actually looked at it and stopped midsentence. He then said that since I have rather small tragii, it'd have to be in the middle (fine by me, that was where I had wanted it in the first place). He suggested a 16 gauge, small diameter stainless steel CBR, I agreed; and his policy for cartilage work was to pierce one size larger (so a 14 gauge needle), to make room for the body to heal into the hole without excessive pressure. He marked a small dot, had me verify it, and then had me lay down on my side on the table. He apologized as he clamped my ear, which felt a little uncomfortable, but not hideous. He made sure I was calm and remembering to breathe, and then he pierced me in one smooth, rapid motion. So rapid in fact, that I didn't even have time to register which way the needle went in. I knew he used an autoclaved cork to receive the needle (he had shown it to me prior to the piercing), but I asked my friends afterwards which way the needle went through, because I couldn't exactly tell from feel what was going on. They explained it to me that he had pierced me from back to front, using the clamps to pull my tragus outwards so he could get it straight through. He then inserted the little CBR (new, from a sterile package) and closed it securely with ring-closing pliers.
I don't recall hearing any kind of sound of the piercing itself as it was too rapid for that, but immediately as he pierced it my ear felt very warm, and I had the sensation that everything I heard was rather muted or distorted, as if underwater. He told me to lie still for a few seconds telling me I was just bleeding a bit, but he quickly mopped it up with gauze and then encouraged me to sit up. As I sat up, the warmth that I had been feeling in my ear suddenly rushed out over my neck and shoulder. My ear canal had completely filled with blood (hence the odd sound), which then proceeded to flow out all over everything as I went from lying down to sitting. Everyone in the room made dismayed noises, and the piercer quickly reached for another handful of gauze to clean it (and me) up. I think we were all really surprised, and Colleen was very glad that I hadn't gone first because the sight of all that blood would have eroded her resolve completely.
After I got all cleaned up (except for my shirt, which would need a good washing), he gave us information on aftercare: his recommendation was sea salt soaks with water as warm as we could stand at least twice daily, if not more often and whenever the piercing felt particularly sore; keep hands away; and generally let your body take care of it. He spent a couple seconds also going over some helpful tips for the logistics of performing the soaks using small plastic cups, q-tips and cotton swabs. We thanked him profusely and then we were on our way.
As we went outside we all had a little bit of the giggles still from all the adrenaline and endorphins still in our bodies and we chatted happily about the experience. I had the odd sensation that every step that I took sent an extra throb of blood to my ear, and had to resist the urge to reach up and touch it to make sure the tenuous clot hadn't come loose. I did resist however, and we got to the car and all the way home without another bleeding incident. That night I soaked it (one teaspoon of uniodized salt dissolved in a glass of very warm water), by placing a towel on the counter and the cup on that, then resting my head sideways in the cup. I read a bit of a book and watched the clock while giving it a good five minute soak, swishing my ear around gently a few times. The warm water felt incredibly soothing, and after I was done the soak I gently used a few q-tip moistened with more hot-ish water to gently wipe around the piercing. The scab had been softened by the soak, so I came away with some rather bloody q-tips. The hole looked quite raw and fresh (obviously), but the inflammation wasn't particularly bad for such a fresh wound.
I took great care to sleep on the opposite side that night, but still ended up with about a quarter-sized amount of blood on my pillowcase in the morning, so I popped that in the wash and hopped into the shower. In the shower I ran the water on it, gently cupping my hand around in to trap water and soak it. Then I used some unscented Spectro-jel to gently clean it and turned the ring: pulling the Spectro-jel into the hole, and then making sure to very thoroughly rinse it out. Although the piercer hadn't recommended this method, I had had it recommended to me for aftercare of other piercings done elsewhere and found it worked very well. At work, I brought some saline that I had made earlier that morning, which I microwaved and applied with a q-tip, holding it against my ear to soak. I used about 5 or 6 q-tips and each came away bloody. I would do one more saline soak when I got home, and another right before bed.
At about day 3, my tragus was at its most inflamed. It wasn't noticeable, just reddened and slightly swollen, and the ring would stay in whichever position I placed it in. After this the swelling went down rapidly and began to heal surprisingly fast (I am a very slow, scar-prone healer, so I found this quite incredible). I continued my aftercare regime faithfully for 2 weeks, until there were no longer tiny amounts of blood coming away on the q-tips, and then began to gradually tone it down to cleaning in the shower in the morning and one salt soak at night. My tragus found this completely satisfactory, and continued its healing process like a bat out of hell. I attribute the speed and ease of healing to the amount of blood circulation to the area, but it could have been pure luck. Within a month I could comfortable sleep on that side, tug on it gently without any pain, and bash a telephone receiver into it as I picked up the phone (I had never realized how violently I p ut the phone to my head before this piercing).
I'm still amazed at the unbelievable speed and ease of my healing, in particular since it is cartilage work, and I know that many others have trouble with theirs. My end result is a perfect placement and piercing, without any kind of excessive scar tissue in the front of the back. In all the time I've had it, I haven't had a single problem with it, never any swelling or itching, never grumpy when I have a cold or play with it excessively. The one thing I have noted, however, is that the little guy has a fondness for trying to trap earwax on the back of the piercing. I clean my ears daily in the shower, and lightly q-tip out the outer portion, removing any visible wax, and I always seem to get a little extra from right behind the piercing.