One day I decided I want my septum pierced. It's amazing what a person learns in a year, such as where to get proper piercing needles and how to properly sanitize your materials. I held off the idea for a couple of weeks; I'd always been fond of the piercing but I wasn't sure if I could work it. I decided that I could indeed pull a septum off, but I had neither the money or the desire to get a professional to do it. I decided to do it myself, although I knew it would probably be painful and that if it got infected I was screwed. I was in school one day when I decided that today would be the day that I would pierce my septum. After school I went to Duane Reade and purchased a package of sewing needles (I didn't know where to get legit piercing needles at the time, whatever). The one I would use for the piercing looked about 16 gauge. I think that they were some type of tapestry needles, although they were pointy so I'm not too sure. Came in a pack with a curved needles as well. By this time I had already had my eyebrow pierced ( I got that when I was much younger) and I had self pierced snake bites (which I decided to take out since...I just did). I also decided that I could take the pain, having a moderately high pain tolerance and love of adrenaline.
At A Glance Author wouldyouliketobeinvisible When A year ago Artist myself Location ny I went to a body jewelry shop and I looked for an 18 gauge piece (not sure why I didn't want 16...). I bought it and went home, boiled everything (Not sanitary enough, and don't use lighters either) and started getting ready. I cleaned the area on my nose off with antibacterial soap and Bactine. I also made sure the surfaces in my bathroom had been thoroughly washed off with tile cleaner. I put my materials on a plate that I had cleaned off with boiling water and antibacterial soap. I tried to pierce it with gloves but for some reason that didn't feel right so I took them off. Looking back on it, this wasn't extremely sanitary but I tried. Whatever. I had taken an Ibuprofen about half an hour before that (heh) and got to work, pushing the needle into my "sweet spot". I can't remember how it felt at first, but then it started to hurt insanely. I tried to pull the needle out of my nose but it didn't come out. I thought to myself "DO YOU REALLY WANT TO PUSH IT IN THIS F AR AND GIVE UP?". I realized I couldn't and looked at myself in the mirror. My ears were tearing up and I looked like crap. I didn't really care anymore, I was almost done. I pushed the needle through harder and as painful as it was it ended up going through. I couldn't believe it. I looked at it in the mirror and sure it hurt, but I was proud of myself. No blood either.
I had the needle in for about 10 minutes when I heard my doorbell go off. My math tutor had come 20 minutes early. I quickly got all of my piercing supplies together, brought them to my room and took the needle out of my nose. I answered the door teary eyed and confused. I tried to work on math for an hour but it didn't work. He asked what was wrong (I was a little bit uh, anxious) and I told him something had happened to my friend that made me very sad. He believed it and I ran upstairs, put a slightly bigger clean needle in my nose and waited for about an hour. I took the needle out, cleaned my nose with antibacterial soap and the small jewelry slid right in. I kept that in for about a month until I decided that I really wanted to get bigger jewelry so I got 16 gauge jewelry. I wore it proudly. I got a lot of questions on it, like did it hurt or where I got it. I told people that it hurt but I didn't remember how much it hurt. When they found out that I did it myself t hey were usually surprised. I guess that's understandable.
It healed up well, but i would not recommend doing it yourself. It wasn't that it was painful but it's that if it gets infected you're not going to have a great time. I got a fever and I felt horrible that I had a sort of new piercing and was constantly blowing my nose. It was confirmed that my septum wasn't infected but my doctor said I should take it out because blowing my nose continuously wasn't exactly the best thing for it. I ended up taking it out (It sounds stupid but I felt terrible and all that), but I would love to get it re-pierced professionally, it was just one of those piercings you bond with :)
happy DIYs<3