Right, where to start. Well, I suppose I've wanted this one done for quite a while, it's for sure a mainstream, run-of-the-mill piercing, but it's also pretty, sexy and feminine (no offense to the guys out there with their done! Hella sexy on a guy too...). The opportunity arose when I escorted my wuss of a mother to the tattooists to have her old tattoo redone, she was in a we're-here-now-so-get-something-done mood, and I figured, what the hell. One main point to keep in mind though: I nearly pass out when I get a shot, so getting near a piercer's needle is always a fun experience. I'd not eaten in about 24 hours, either, so that contributed vastly to the shaky-knee syndrome. A bottle of juice, a fresh tattoo on Ma's ass and about 4 hours later, I was finally strapped to the chair and shaking my scrawny ass off.
At A Glance Author Possum Contact Possum@bme.anon Artist Shawn Morrow; Rock Studio Jade Dragon; World's End Location Chicago, Il; Zurich, Switzerland Whatever you do, if you've got a phobia of needles, don't look at the needle. Big mistake. I managed to strategically place my mother in the line of vision between me and the desk with the tools on, and that helped a lot. Shawn was great, too. I hope I spelled his name right.... No nonsense, really professional and calming. So, there I was at his mercy, and it honestly is nothing.
As usual, the clamps are the most discomfort you're going to feel. When he pushed the needle through (top to bottom), it felt like a real hard pinch, and the whole area felt hot, but I didn't have time to finish my "Holy shit!" before the thing was through. When he slid in the CBR (SSS), it stung a bit, and when I got up the area was throbbing, but nothing unbearable.
He gave me an aftercare sheet, a bottle of antibacterial soap, Betadine and alcohol wipes and a Jade Dragon Tattoo mug to keep the whole lot in. Oh, thanks Joey, for the T-shirt! Girls, if you do go to Jade Dragon, keep an eye on Joey and Chops... hehe.
Oh, yeh, well, back to aftercare. I was told to clean the whole thing with an alcohol and then a Betadine wipe three times a day, and wash it in the shower with the soap, rotating the ring through the hole. Nothing new there, but it is kinda tricky to figure out a way of squirting on the soap whilst catching the water around your belly button in one hand, and trying to rotate it all with the other hand.
I'd used Betadine on piercings before, but only on infected or irritated ones. I'm wont to leaving well enough alone, and just letting things settle and heal themselves.
The alcohol stung like a bitch, I didn't like to use it, but I was determined to be good and follow instructions exactly.
The whole thing seemed fine for maybe three days, no redness, just a bit of pain when I applied pressure to the area (bedclothes, etc.) and no discharge of any shape or colour. However, after that grace period, it all went pearshaped. The whole area, of a diameter of about 10 cm, went bright pink, sore and itchy. There was some yellow and some grey gunge, and a few crusties. It hurt like a bitch to rotate the ring.
After about a week of that, I went to the piercers here at home in Zurich. He confirmed my guess as to an allergy to the ring. I'd lost a helix to a nickel allergy before, so I don't know why I didn't spot it earlier. He took out the CBR, rinsed the hole through, and inserted a titanium CBR of a smaller diameter (NOT a smaller gauge), and since then no more itchies, and the redness died down after a few days.
The hole is 16ga, but watch this space, it will be a 10ga when I've finished with it.
I've still got a few goobies in the way of greyish discharge, but that's perfectly normal; just lymph fluid.
Rock, my piercer here, confiscated my Betadine, alcohol and soap, and gave me the Swiss equivalent to Neosporin, which has done the trick really well. I didn't bother with any soaks, but I did take a saltwater bath about 16 days after getting it done which seemed to help a bit with the last remnants of redness.
If you got any questions, email me, and otherwise, just get it done for Chrissake's! It's no big deal. I'm gonna get the bottom of my navel done when this is completely healed up, and eventually get one barbell through the whole thing.
It's not interfered much with any activities, including dance, but I have had one very coordinated friend of mine poke his finger through the ring by accident and pull. Don't ask how, but he managed. Hurt like a bitch, but didn't rip or anything, so it's not all that delicate a piercing. Just watch out for tight tops or high-cut pants for the first month or so while it settles, as pressure might cause it to migrate.
Every piercer has his/her own methods of aftercare, and leaving it alone with just a dab of Neosporin once a day did the trick for me better than the whole alcohol-soap-Betadine rig-up did. You gotta figure out what works for you yourself.
Right, time to step of the soapbox, email me if you want, and good luck. Otherwise, I'm always in the BME chat ('cause I have no life, but shh), so come pway wif us.
Possum