Piercing Advice?

[blas]

A girlfriend and I are planning on going to a piercing shop on Friday.

She has one of those implant/dermal (I think that's what they are called?) piercings on the side of her face, right by her eye. It looks just like a little jewel poking out. Really cute.

I've been thinking of getting one of those myself......do any of you folks have piercings like that? Do they take shorter or longer to heal than, say, nose/navel/tongue? Are they riskier for bacteria and infection?

Any help appreciated! Thanks!

[Cat]

Good luck with it if you do it....that is brave My favorite of my piercingsis my tragus...and it HURT!!


I have no advice to give....but if ya get it done...let us know how it goes

[blas]

What is your tragus?

I'm not too worried about pain....I have my navel pierced, had my tongue pierced, got my ears pierced when I was 3, and I've got a few tattoos.....I don't enjoy pain by any means but I can tolerate quite a bit of it.

[Amina516]

Theres always a risk for infection with any break in the skin. That being said, since they are actually implanted into your body, the chances for infection would probably be higher since there's no outlet for bacteria like there would be in a regular piercing. Also, the skin might reject the piercing like any surface piercing since theres just a smaller layer of skin holding it down.

Good luck with that tho. It sounds cute, I want to get one at the top of my cleavage...lol.

[MaggieTheCat]

The tragus is part of your ear. It's the little triangular bit of skin that partially covers the opening of your ear. Here are some better pics to describe where it is:

http://www.bmezine.com/pierce/01-ear/trag001.html

I have my left tragus pierced, and I love it. The first time my piercer tried to pierce it, he failed! Okay, I laugh about it now, but it did sorta suck at the time. He was able to pierce it, but for whatever reason he couldn't get the jewelry through the hole, even after fiddling with my ear for about 15 minutes. It hurt and I bled a bit. Sorry, don't let me discourage anyone from having their tragus pierced; I went back about a month later to the same guy and he did it, no problem (for free too! I actually thought that it was totally worth it to get a free piercing out of it, the initial experience wasn't that bad) and it has healed by FAR the best of all my piercings. It never bothers or hurts me anymore and it looks great. The only downside is that changing earrings in that location is a BITCH. I have heard some people say that the tragus hurts the most of all ear piercings, and some say (like me) that it hurts the least. So it just varies from person to person, as almost all piercings will.

Anyway, Blas, BMEzine is a good resource for any and all piercings in general, so here's their main page:

http://www.bmezine.com/index.html

I don't have any kind of piercing like what your friend has, but if she has what I think she does, then it is considered a "surface" piercing (similar to an eyebrow piercing) and it is NOT a permanent piercing. It will eventually "migrate" and you will have to take the jewelry out, and get it re-pierced if you want to continue wearing the jewelry. This might not happen for a couple of years, but it will happen, so keep that in mind when deciding whether you want that kind of piercings or not. For some people, it's a good thing, 'cuz they can wear the piercing like that for a while, and when it migrates enough that they need to take the jewelry out, they can decide that they don't want it anymore and not get it re-pierced.

General advice for anyone getting any kind of piercing:

-For the love of everything, get pierced with a needle instead of a gun. I don't think you can even get a surface piercing with a gun (the very thought of it makes my head hurt) but even for something "simple" like ear lobe/cartilage, always get pierced with a needle. It hurts less (yes, really! I didn't believe it at first, but it's true!), puts less trauma on your skin, and most importantly, it's healthier and safer.

-Scope out your piercing shop before you get any piercings. Talk to the person who will be piercing you and if possible, find out what their procedure is. MAKE SURE that they use STERILE equipment and GLOVES for all piercings.

-Do some research online about the kind of piercing you're going to get. BMEzine is a good resource; Google should provide more, once you know the name of the type of piercing you're looking for. Look for first-hand experiences and be prepared to know what some of the complications can be for the specific kind of piercing you're interested in.

-Get good cleaning supplies. I personally like these: http://www.drpiercing.com/
They're basically hollow q-tips filled with a piercing cleaning solution. Break one end off, the solution soaks in to the other end, and you swab the cotton on your piercing. Quick, easy, sterile, no need to mess with bottles of solution and cotton swabs, etc. Or else just ask your piercer what they recommend. Be absolutely sure that you follow whatever aftercare guide your piercer gives you, and call them right away if you have any questions or complications.

Okay, I think that's enough of a book for tonight. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll try to answer. Good luck and make sure you send us pics!

[artifical sweetner]

i have 13 piercings - surface are most likely to reject as the body will treat it like a splinter.

i suggest doing research on your own to decide if the risks are worth it. they can definitely heal and most infections although annoying can be managed.