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| - I found out about Tribal Expression on the radio. They professed to be Calgary's only exclusive piercing studio, so I figured they would be a good choice for my next piercing! I called and made an appointment with Keith, who has 15 years of experience, for an anti-tragus. This would be one of the largest piercings I have had, so I thought an experienced piercer would be the way to go.
The studio has parking in the back. The inside is quite modern, tiled floors, raised front desk. The receptionist was nice. After a wait of close to 20 minutes, I guess they were sterilizing my jewelery, Keith came out and introduced himself. The receptionist had already talked to me about the jewelery they use, but Keith told me again. They pride themselves on the custom jewelery they have made with the highest quality metals. But the barbell they chose to use on me was plastic, with metal beads. They claimed that it would help prevent infection, which still doesn't make sense to me. The room I was in was quite large and clean. Keith had me lie on the bed as he prepared things. He marked where he planned to pierce then had me look in the mirror. I told him I wanted it moved more out and up the ear a bit. He had me lie down again and put the clamp on, I got the feeling he hadn't done a lot of these particular piercings. The clamp hurt more than the piercing, but I had heard that is normal. I would say that the actual piercing part went smoothly. After I waited a bit to sit up, I looked in the mirror and saw that he had pierced it more up the ear but not out, like I asked. I was okay with it though. When I was paying the receptionist and Keith both strongly recommended their after care salt cleanse. The cost of a bottle wasn't bad, about $12, so I chose to get one to help take care of my new piercing. The cost of the piercing was $30 and the jewelery was $40, for plastic! So everything cost me about $80! I found that a bit steep.
About 3 weeks after my piercing, it had continued to get more and more sore, even though I cleaned religiously. I eventually got an infection and went to the Dr. for some antibiotics. I called the studio and talked to the other piercer Lindsay, she told me to come in and they would extend the bar and help the piercing drain. So I waited until the infection cleared up mostly then went in. Lindsay is a less experienced piercer, but she was nice and tried to take care of my ear as best she could. She removed the current bar and put in a longer one, so the swelling wouldn't stop it from draining. That was more painful than when I got the piercing, but that would have been because of my ear being so tender. I did buy some more cleaning solution, but they didn't charge me anything for changing the bar, which I was thankful for!
After regular cleaning and a few cleanses the piercing got quite a bit better. So I returned to the studio and had the bar shortened, again for no cost. This was at about 4 months and the piercing still hadn't healed completely, I was told that this was because it was a thick cartilage piercing.
The next couple months my piercing shifted, I think my body was trying to get rid of the foreign plastic in my ear. I also had couple keloids develop at one end of the piercing and also at the back of my ear. I have never had a problem like this with my other cartilage piercings. I emailed the studio about what I should do, take it out or try other jewelery and I never received a reply. I called and the guy I talked to just told me to come in, he didn't have any advice. Another piece of jewelery would cost me $40 even though they are supposed to be a wholesale dealer. I still haven't decided what to do, I worked so hard to keep this piercing.
For a place that claims they are "Calgary's premier piercing studio" I didn't feel I was in any better hands than other studios I have been to! In fact I feel that the initial piercing not being where I wanted and the jewelery is what has prevented me from really enjoying my piercing. The cost of getting a piercing at this studio is too steep for the experience I have had. I think this is a good place to go for high quality jewelery, even though they didn't use it on me, especially if you need something custom. I probably won't be returning to Tribal Expressions for any other piercings.
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