Tragus Piercing: Infection and Precautions

As you can see, I love piercings! Have 5 piercings, one in the lower lobe, one above that(upper lobe), one Helix, and the Tragus, and 1 nose piercing(which I got pierced twice cause it was crooked).

Storytime:

The latest one, Tragus piercing, I got done in December, which I dreaded cause it was in the cartilage and the area is very small, but I really wanted to get it done. So I went for it, got BOTH my ears pierced at once with a GUN, cause I thought I can't stand the pain of hand piercing and chose a tiny stone. I came home, checked both the piercings, my right piercing was crooked(nooooooo!!!).

With lots and lots of courage, I plucked it out, now left with only left Tragus pierced. After that I had to travel to Pune for my convocation, causing a lot of foreign objects to touch my piercing, (sleeping on the train, sleeping on a different bed, using a different pillow, hurting the piercing with thousand and one things). With all this, by the time I got home, my left Tragus piercing got infected, and the next day, it got embedded (the skin took the gem inside as a sign to fight against the foreign object, the piercing). And I lost my mind!!!

I started panicking, real bad, trying to push the stone out of the skin, but that hurt like shit! I tried to control myself but God I was soooooo restless. For about 2 weeks I kept it covered in ointment and took antibiotics(under my father's supervision and he knows medicine), hoping for it to heal itself cause I really loved it.

Result: NOTHING!!! The skin completely engulfed the stone and was healing itself over it (stupid skin!).

So I continued my antibiotic for another week or so, and when the pain went away, I eventually forgot about it for some time. Time passed, I was busy with my work, the ear was fine, everything was fine, February went by, March 5 we(my mother and me) had to come to Bangalore where my father is, and decided to get the piercing removed in Bangalore after Holi.

Holi happened, also COVID-19 became a serious issue, now there was no question of going out of the house.

Cut to today, the stone is still in my ear, and because there was no pain, I started sleeping on my left side, which gradually troubled my ear and now the pain has returned.

Now I'm waiting for the time when it's safe to go and get it removed.

All this time, I searched every possible reason why it could have happened, can I push through, surgeries for embedded piercing, and everything I could possibly think of, my youtube feed was filled these videos.

And all this while, these are the few things that I learned:

1. Both Tragus piercing at once: Not a good Idea

Getting Tragus piercing done in both the ears is probably not the wisest decision to make because you need at least one side apart from the back of your head to sleep on, no matter how much you try, you will get tired/annoyed of sleeping in one position. And your piercing needs to be UNDISTURBED no matter what!

2. Constant Fidgeting

I got my first piercing(which stayed intact, before this I had got my lobes pierced when I was 5 which got infected and then closed) when I was 10 years, with gold wire and I used to constantly rotate and tug at it so that it doesn't get locked at one place. I thought I'll have to do the same with this piercing as well, and I did! Turns out, I shouldn't have done that, as Tragus piercings shouldn't be touched or played with as it irritates it. (Not a smart move!)

3. Clean your Piercings

With Tragus Piercings, you need minimal touching and cleaning it once or twice daily with the prescribed liquid, which mostly is a mixture of sea salt(iodine-free) and distilled water. Apparently, the best way is to take the solution on a cotton bud (or earbud) and gently rotate the bud around the stone and the back, removing all the dirt and crust. That is all, which I sometimes skipped, which is also why this happened.

4. Choose a big stone/gem

For avoiding the skin from taking in the stud, choose a bigger stone, which reduces the risk of embedding. Smaller stones do not work best, as of what I've experienced.

5. Piercing with a Gun. NOT!

Getting cartilage piercings with a gun is POSSIBLY not the best idea as it causes a lot of trauma to the ear which again can cause rejection of the piercing later on.

So yeah! These are the major 5 things that I learned from this incident. As soon as I get this out of my ear and it heals, I'll get it re-pierced, cause I loved it so much!

I hope you enjoyed reading this and got to know something new. Share your thoughts and views in the comment section below or on the facebook page @theuralway or my Instagram @theuralway.

Until next time,

Love & Hugs.