A tragus piercing is a hole in the small flap of cartilage that sits just in front of your ear canal, right where your ear meets your face. It's a popular, subtle piercing that usually holds a flat stud or a small ring. It heals a little more slowly than a lobe piercing, but with the right care you'll enjoy it for years. Below you can read how much it hurts, how long healing takes, when to be concerned and which piece of jewelry suits it best.
What exactly is a tragus piercing?
A tragus piercing is a cartilage piercing placed in the ear. It sits in the small piece of cartilage at the front of the ear, just in front of your ear canal. That means the tragus piercing rests against the side of your face. It's a subtle but beautiful spot for a pretty stud or small ring. People often wear a small piece of jewelry in this piercing.
How do you unscrew a piercing?
With so many beautiful types of piercings you can wear in a tragus, you'll want to know how to unscrew and screw a piercing back in easily. For a tragus piercing it works like this: to loosen the piercing, turn it to the left (seen from above). To tighten it again, turn it to the right. Can't get it loose with just your hands? You can also hold the back with a small pair of pliers and twist the front open.
How do you clean a tragus piercing?
Because a tragus piercing is a cartilage piercing, it takes longer to heal. Cartilage piercings simply heal more slowly than a piercing in your earlobe. That's because an earlobe has better blood flow, while cartilage has poorer blood flow. To help the healing go as smoothly as possible, it's important to clean your piercing every day. But what are the best ways to do that? The first option is a saline spray, which you use to spray the front and back of the piercing clean. Notice that your tragus piercing still isn't healing well? Then there's another option: gently clean around the piercing with a cotton swab and mild, unscented soap.
Is a tragus piercing dangerous?
A tragus piercing isn't dangerous as long as a professional piercer does it with sterile, single-use equipment and you follow the aftercare properly. It's a cartilage piercing, so it's more prone to irritation and inflammation than a lobe piercing, and it heals more slowly. Serious complications are rare and can almost always be traced back to unhygienic piercing or touching it with dirty hands.
Do pay attention to the material you choose: cheap metal containing nickel causes an allergic reaction much sooner than skin-friendly 14k recycled gold. Unsure about redness or pus? Visit your piercer or GP.
Inflamed tragus piercing: what should you do?
You can recognize an inflamed tragus piercing by persistent redness, warmth, swelling, throbbing pain or yellowish pus. If you treat it in time, mild irritation usually clears up on its own. Rinse twice a day with a sterile saline solution, touch it as little as possible otherwise and don't twist the jewelry.
Never take the jewelry out yourself when it's inflamed, because the hole will close and trap the infection inside. If it keeps getting worse after a few days, see your GP. The full care routine is in our piercing aftercare guide.
Does a tragus piercing help with migraines or headaches?
There's no scientific evidence that a tragus piercing cures migraines or headaches. The idea comes from the daith piercing, which is said to sit on an acupuncture point, but hard evidence is lacking there too and it's mostly a placebo effect. So it's best to get a tragus piercing purely for the look, not as a medical treatment.
Do you have persistent headaches or migraines? Talk to your GP about it instead of relying on a piercing. Still want to choose an ear piercing based on comfort? Take a look at our ear piercing pain comparison.
How much does a tragus piercing cost and where should you get it done?
Getting a tragus piercing done by a professional piercer usually costs 30 to 50 euros, excluding the jewelry. Always have it done with a needle (not a piercing gun, which is too rough for cartilage) at a studio that works with sterile single-use equipment and checks your anatomy first.
You buy the jewelry separately, and that's exactly where the difference in quality and healing lies. Our tragus piercings in 14k recycled gold are skin-friendly and suitable to wear straight away in a fresh piercing.
Which jewelry suits a tragus piercing? Ring or stud?
A tragus piercing fits a flat flatback stud or a small ring, because the space is small and a flat back doesn't press into your ear canal. A stud looks minimalist and subtle and is ideal during healing; a ring stands out more and looks edgier. Many people start with a stud and switch to a hoop once it has healed.
Popular choices are a delicate zirconia or a lab-grown diamond stud in 14k gold. See the full selection in the Eline Rosina tragus piercings. Find more styling inspiration in styling tragus and helix piercings.
Anti-tragus, surface and double tragus: the variations
Besides the classic tragus, there are a few variations. The anti-tragus sits directly opposite the tragus, on the small bump of cartilage above your earlobe. A surface tragus runs flat across the skin in front of the tragus instead of straight through it. And with a double tragus, two holes are placed one above the other in the same flap, provided your anatomy has room for it.
Which variation is possible depends on the shape of your ear. A good piercer will assess this beforehand. Want to combine several piercings into a beautiful ear stack? Get inspired by the piercing edit.
Frequently asked questions about the tragus piercing
What's the difference between a tragus and an anti-tragus piercing?
The difference between a tragus and an anti-tragus piercing is the location. The tragus sits in the flap of cartilage in front of your ear canal, the anti-tragus in the bump directly opposite it, just above your earlobe. Both go through cartilage and take about the same time to heal, but the anti-tragus is harder to pierce because that bump is small on many people. A good piercer will assess beforehand whether your ear has room for it.
Can anyone get a tragus piercing?
Not everyone can get a tragus piercing, because you need a sufficiently pronounced flap of cartilage for the jewelry to sit properly. If your tragus is very small or flat, an experienced piercer will sometimes advise against it or suggest an alternative. That's why a professional studio always looks at the anatomy of your ear before anything is pierced.
Which jewelry is best to wear in a fresh tragus piercing?
In a fresh tragus piercing it's best to wear a flat flatback stud, because the smooth back doesn't press into your ear canal and lets the piercing heal undisturbed. A small ring can come later, once everything has healed. Choose a skin-friendly material: the Eline Rosina tragus piercings are made of 14k recycled gold with lab-grown diamonds, suitable to wear straight away.
How do you prevent a tragus piercing from getting inflamed?
You prevent inflammation by cleaning your tragus piercing twice a day with a sterile saline solution, not touching it otherwise and not sleeping on that side while it heals. Don't use alcohol, soap or disinfectant, because they actually dry out the cartilage. The full routine is in our piercing aftercare guide.
When can you change the jewelry in your tragus piercing?
You can change the jewelry in your tragus piercing as soon as it has fully healed, usually after three to six months without redness, fluid or tenderness. Change it too early and you risk irritation or a bump. Unsure about the right moment? Read when a piercing is healed before you change anything.
Does a tragus piercing hurt more than a helix or daith?
A tragus piercing hurts more than a helix, but less than a daith or conch. In terms of pain, the tragus sits in the middle of the ear piercings: a short, sharp prick through the cartilage, followed by a few days of tenderness. How all ear piercings compare in pain is covered in our comparison of which ear piercing hurts the least.
How much does a gold tragus piercing cost?
A piece of gold tragus piercing jewelry costs more than a gold-plated one or one containing nickel, but in return you get quality and skin-friendliness. Solid 14k gold doesn't tarnish, hardly ever causes allergic reactions and lasts for years. See the current prices and styles in the Eline Rosina tragus piercings in recycled 14k gold.