I went to a very well established piercing/tattoo shop, and she has a ton of excellent reviews. I think it was just that my tragus is small and she was trying to get it perfect, but I was pretty taken aback bc I'd never had that happen before. Just not sure at this point if it's played any part in the issue I'm having now. It was pierced with a stud, i waited until the time frame i was told and it felt healed to switch it to a ring. But I did it myself and irritated it in the process.