At A Glance Author Steven Mackensen Contact Modified_Vegan@yahoo.com IAM modifiedvegan When It just happened Artist Shawn Studio Fillmore Tattos & Piercing Location Fillmore, California I guess you can say it started last year in August, when all a sudden I wanted to get my septum pierced. At the time, all I wanted was a standard size septum, so a 16g or 1.2mm if you don't live in the United States. I was not yet eighteen at the time(I wouldn't turn eighteen for another two months), so my girlfriend(at the time), my friend Andy, and I went to Venice Beach(known for their piercers using the "don't ask, don't tell" method) to get mine and Patty's(girlfriend at the time) septum done. It was my first piercing in a long time so I wasn't quite use to the pain/experience(previously all I had done was 18g snake bites done by my cousin and stretching my ears to 1.5'') and I'll say, it certainly took me by surprise. No matter what I get pierced, I will tear, even if it's near painless, I will always tear because I have to close my eyelids and shut them very hard so when it opens, wooooosh! It's like a river falling out of my eyes, and this time was no exception. It ended up making me look like a baby since Patty was getting it done at a 14g and I don't even recall one tear falling from her face. After everything, it was certainly an experience I enjoyed and I went on to wear my septum down proudly for a long time!
Around nine months after I got my septum done, it was rare that I'd even wear it down. Not because I thought it was ugly or anything but I didn't like the fact that it was so tiny. Especially in the past half a year, I've been constantly on this site and looking over the pictures of what people can reach with their body modifications and I started to get really into large septums and dermal punching. It seemed a lot easier and overall, cheaper as well since I would not have to spend my money on tapers, retainers, etc. It took me a long time before I even could convince myself of actually going for it. This was a big step for me. It was pretty much my first big step into modifying my body. I've been stretching my lobes for a long time and I got pretty big(48mm) and I even stretched my double monroes quite a bit but stretching doesn't even hurt me, it's nothing for me. But this seemed like it'd be something just too out of my league. Also, to add to the stress, it's removing skin that I will never get back, and although I didn't end up getting my septum punched that big, I was sure that it would feel like it'd be huge!
So it got to the point where I really needed something, and that something was having a big septum. I had taken out my septum retainer because I grew so sick of having it in. A couple days later(this was the week before I had gotten my septum dermal punched) when I had to go to Fillmore Tattoos & Piercing to see Shawn so he could take the stitches out of my right lobe(it had torn into two), I quickly asked him after he was done, how much it was cost for my septum to be punched and what's the best size without cutting into cartilage. He then replied, "sixty dollars, I usually charge eighty but sixty is fine." I asked if Tuesday on the following week would be fine for me to come in, he then said it was perfectly fine and I was booked to come in around 3pm on the next Tuesday.
After the weekend had passed and I finished all my bragging to my cousin Sarah that I was going to have a big septum on Tuesday, Tuesday arrived! I drove to Fillmore which is kind of a bummer for gas, especially with the incredibly high gas prices in my area, but it was 100% worth it. I arrived at the shop and Shawn told my girlfriend(presently Katy) and I to wait a couple minutes while he would set everything up, and I am being completely honest when I say it was the most anxious couple of minutes I ever had to deal with. He then called me to come to the back and Katy followed me because she was looking forward to watching my die of agony! After preparing the tools and laying me down, he felt my nose to make sure that it would not cut into cartilage and only the skin. As soon as I saw that he was about to punch my septum(I had my eyes closed for quite a bit) I had freaked out a little and shut my eyes extremely hard. It only took about twenty seconds but it felt like twenty minutes! It was a different experience for me, definitely something I've never felt before. At first it was a little painful(like getting a septum pierced at a standard size) but then it slowed down and he had to turn it which took me by surprised even though i've spend months reading on dermal punching. It didn't feel painful, it didn't feel like pain at all, I cannot even describe it. Maybe, because it's my septum(and I read a lot about dermal punching cartilage), it felt a lot different than people described. At one point it felt like I couldn't even breathe but then it was all over and I didn't even feel paint at all when it was done. He inserted the taper and then put in a long round-end 4g(5mm) glass jewelry for the swelling to have room. I admit I was a bit disappointed because there was no way I could even hide the jewelry(I may be eighteen but I live with my grandmother and she's not even a fan of nostril studs, and we're Persian!) but I'll get into that in a bit. After Shawn took some pictures of my septum, I payed him sixty dollars and he then told me to return in about a month so he could take healed pictures.
Now this is where it got messy. I was going back to my grandmother's house that night so I need a retainer or a short black plug. I was thinking of going to Nathan's Tattoos & Piercing in Canoga Park but that was a bit far and I all ready exhausted and gasless from driving to Fillmore. So I just went to the Thousand Oaks mall to try and find a black acrylic plug at the Mystic Visions cart(they sell decent jewelry and they always have a good price so I'm basicly a regular there when it comes to buying acrylic plugs) and my friend Garreth that works there, suggested that I just buy one which came out to like five dollars or something like that. Thankfully, Katy was there because I could not even see the hole after removing the original jewelry because of all the blood, but she found it and inserted the new jewelry(which surprisingly did not hurt that much) and it could barely be seen! So now, two days later and the swelling is going down(I constantly take Ibuprofen) and I haven't had much trouble with the black acrylic plug at all. It's not bleeding much and fits comfortably, so I am incredibly happy. Overall, it was an intense experience but I am so grateful for going through it. Hopefully, it heals correctly and I can stretch it in the future.
IMPORTANT: I may be lucky that I changed my jewelry but if you get done what I had done, I advise to wait at least two weeks after getting dermal punched so it has a better chance of healing correctly. Use bactine to clean it(I use these sea-salt wipes I got for free from Shawn and they work wonderfully, look out for them in the future, they're called Prick-fixx I believe, they also do wonders for my reconstructed lobe) every day or dial soap.