At A Glance Author anonymous When Three months ago Location South Coast I never considered getting a piercing until a few months ago when a close friend (and piercing junkie) moved in with me. She would be on the internet and often call me over to see if she found any interesting pictures, which ranged from forty centimetre liberty spikes to tounge-splitting and ritual amputation.
From her I learned of elegant corset piercing, surface and *gasp* genital piercing... all of which I had never heard of, for i had been born into a somewhat conservative background.
She already had 3 piercing on each ear and a cartilage, but would often talk of getting snakebites, tounge, nape, libret, eyebrow piercings... as well as a great deal of other procedures.
one night i happened to mention during one such conversation that the only part of me i would even consider getting pierced would be my nose. My housemate jumped at the opportunity and began to pester.
despite myself, I began to feel myself inclining towards it. Piercing was very new... and fascinated me. The mother (to my great surprise) approved, and within 2 days we were at our local tattoo parlour. It hurt like all hell... and i was incredibly scared, but i had a plan. i would tell everyone i knew about it so i if i backed out the consequences would be so embarrassing and shameful i HAD to do it. I dont know why but this made me feel better for some reason. After it was done I felt proud and ridiculously full of myself... however... the happiness lasted for about a week. Before a trip to Sydney, major drama. Groggy and tired, I stepped out of the shower at 6am, and forgetting completely about my new piercing raked the towel across my face. A little clatter on the tiles. *SHIT!!*
The stud was one of those little twisty ones... and try as I might... I couldn't get it back into my nose. the piercing was hurting like hell, and starting to bleed. I was so upset that I was going to lose my first piercing... mind you, if I had known of the events to follow I probably would have taken the damn thing out... but there you go. At the time i had no intention of going back to the tattoo parlour and facing the piercer in my bathtowel, sobbing like a little girl and asking him to put my nose stud back in for me because i didnt know how. Mum suggested I put an earring in there instead. Easy. Within the minute there was a delicate little gold filigree ring in my nose (24 carats mind you). I was so happy that I could keep it and I went to Sydney and had a great time.
During the following weeks my friend's piercing healed perfectly, but mine continued to weep, and would sometimes swell up for no reason! I was very worried. One day it looked so seedy my mum dragged me to the local street wear store and bought me a stud made of stainless steel. It went in, but the swelling just would not go down. The lump on my nose (about the size and shape of a rubber on the end of a pencil)gained blood vessels, continued to puss and finally solidified and remained. One night I slept at my friend's house... and somewhere between horror movies and pillow fights (probably during pillow fights) the stud fell out. In the morning, I realised, but we couldn't find the stud! I noticed the hole where the piercing had been had closed and decided to leave it be. It was probably for the best. I have been piercing-free for almost a month, and despite 4 visits to the doctor, 3 prescriptions of antibiotics and an application of silver-nitrate, the lump still remains.
All this has cost my mother (who insists on paying) over 300 dollars... and many embarrassing questions from my schoolmates.
Offcourse, I absolutely do not blame my piercer for this, who was greatly professional about this whole business. The doctor who consulted told me the trouble probably started when I tried to put my nose stud in after it fell out the first time. I broke the protective layer of skin that had formed over the hole and bacteria had gotten in.
God what a horrible experience. It hasn't put me off piercing offcourse. Im planning snakebite next. I hope it turns out better than my first piercing.I just wish to warn anyone who is either getting a first piercing or has not yet experienced an infection, don't cling to your piercing! I did, in hope that it would pan out for me, and by the time I saw a doctor, 3 prescriptions of Cephalexin 500mg could not stop unsightly scarring on my face.