The Tragus!

Medical Topic of the Day:  Continuing my series of unloved parts of your body we are examining another oft neglected and abused part, your tragus.

Off the Top of My Head:  It is that little bump of cartridge that is the most anterior part of your ear.  People pierce them commonly and I have heard it is a dangerous place to pierce.  I am not sure why.  I am not entirely sure what the tragus' purpose is.  As your body rarely has non-utilitarian forms I imagine it is used for something important because otherwise your ears are needlessly complicated.

That guy right there.

My Research Today:  Defined as the "cartilaginous projection anterior to the external opening of the ear" the tragus' primary purpose is to help differentiate sound direction.  Since this piece of flesh projects towards the back of your head it helps capture sounds behind you and since it is smaller it creates a natural delay in the sound which helps your brain determine a sounds location.  Sound actually bounces off your tragus, anti-tragus and a bunch of other ear folds.  There is no useless ear part, your brain can discern sound from almost any location.

Sound behind you bounces off
your tragus and into your ear.

So what are the dangers of piercing this lesser understood yet very useful part of your ear?  Well, most of the danger is in the technique.  For example, you should never have any piercing done with a piercing gun especially your tragus.  For one piercing guns are less accurate and clumsier than most techniques and for two, the impact of the gun can shatter the cartilage leading to structural collapse or deformity to your ear.

Broken cartilage heals all bumpy and weird and it also takes a long time to heal.  A piercing through cartilage can take up to a year of care to heal completely.  Tragus piercings will also make it more difficult to introduce ear drops into your ear canal as there is something called "tragal pumping" which is repeated squeezing of the tragus to allow drops deeper into your ear canal.  I swear I didn't make that up.

So again, the lesson of the day is that unlike most items sold at Ikea, your body doesn't have extra parts.  Be kind to all your parts and always have body modifications done by trained professionals.

See you tomorrow.

Quest To 180:
12K steps today.  Walked 1.5 miles,  biked 6 miles.


The MAN:
Need some help.