Tragus piercing- change after 12 weeks?

Hey all, I had my tragus pierced on the weekend at a studio recommended to me. No pain whatsoever, no problems at all, really happy with it.

They told me to keep the longer labret in for 12 weeks, which I thought was quite a long time... I changed my lip piercing after two weeks to a shorter bar. (I know that any wound in the mouth heals at a faster rate that most places, and I'm expecting it to take much longer than 2 weeks.)

I probably will keep the annoyingly long bar in for 12 weeks and go back to my piercer to change it, but I'm just wondering about other people's experiences.

How long did you wait?

Also, is it easy for the labret ball to become unscrewed? I don't want to fiddle with the bar because that would obvioulsy heighten the risk of infection. My lip piercing became unscrewed a couple of times when I'd just had it, but now I'm used to tightening it once every few days.

OP

mhmmm

If it's annoyingly long and irritating you, or you think it will prolong the healing period, then that sounds like a reasonable time to wait before getting it changed by the piercer...perhaps a couple of weeks earlier if necessary. Cartilage can often take 6 months - 1 year to heal (longer for certain ones, like snugs and industrials) and it's best not to change jewellery before it's fully healed unless it's actually interfering with healing, as it's very easy to irritate them & have them swell up or develop a bump which may require having the longer bar back in.

Your piercer should have screwed the end on very tightly, and unless it's cheap jewellery it should stay on fine. If you think it's becoming loose, tighten it wearing latex gloves for extra grip and then give it your usual sea salt soak (assuming that's what you're doing for aftercare).

Reply 3

Fuzzpig

OP

16

Original post by Kate.

If it's annoyingly long and irritating you, or you think it will prolong the healing period, then that sounds like a reasonable time to wait before getting it changed by the piercer...perhaps a couple of weeks earlier if necessary. Cartilage can often take 6 months - 1 year to heal (longer for certain ones, like snugs and industrials) and it's best not to change jewellery before it's fully healed unless it's actually interfering with healing, as it's very easy to irritate them & have them swell up or develop a bump which may require having the longer bar back in.

Your piercer should have screwed the end on very tightly, and unless it's cheap jewellery it should stay on fine. If you think it's becoming loose, tighten it wearing latex gloves for extra grip and then give it your usual sea salt soak (assuming that's what you're doing for aftercare).

Thanks for the reply, I'm just doing the saline soak every day a few times, and there was no swelling so I think the bar going back and forth due to it being so long might be causing more of a problem than anything else.

I guess I can ask the piercer to change it a little earlier than 12 weeks then, thanks =]

Reply 4

hannahdaisy

11

As Kate said, it's much more likely to take nearly a year to heal, maybe more in lots of cases. I'd only go and get it changed if you think the bar keeps moving about and aggrevating the piercing.

Reply 5

pgoc

I had my tragus pierced about 3 months ago now and lots of people that have had it done said theirs still hurts after a year or so.
Mine became infected but me being an idiot left it for weeks and weeks when a red lump was growing around the piercing inside my ear...pretty bloody gross. So I finally went to the doctor this morning and he said it's a mild infection and I now have 'Fucidin cream' that I have to apply 3 times a day. If yours has a bubble or hurts then I'd definitely recommend seeing a doctor as soon as possible before it gets worse like mine did! Not worth the hassle. :rolleyes:

Reply 6

kandy666

11

LEAVEEEEE IT!
I changed my tragus piercing after only a few weeks, and it migrated and now I've got a massive circular scar on the side of my face. Buff! ¬_¬
Probably didn't help that I insisted on wearing ear plugs either ... but leave it for at least a year. And lots of salt water baths.