For about a year I have been begging my mom about getting my belly pierced, and she kept telling me that she would let me get it done if I could find a (as she calls it) reputable place to do it (she is really weird about not wanting me to get it done in a tattoo place.) A few times she made me so mad about this that I almost did it myself, but that would have probably lead to my being grounded for the next year and/or infection. So I was visiting family in Indiana last week, and my aunt just so happens to be a nurse at the hospital there. She knew a doctor that does navel piercing under the table. I was a little concerned about her doing it under the table, but figured unless I want to wait another year to get it done I had better take advantage of the opportunity.
At A Glance Author Jenn Contact LadyMyrna@hotmail.com When A week ago Artist - Studio - Location - I got an appointment for thursday and was very nervous, as I usually do my own piercing (I have 11 in my ears all together, all of which I have done myself). She didnt supply rings, so I had to go pick out my own. I talked to the lady in the store where I picked out my ring and she helped me since this doctor gave no information whatsoever as to what kind of ring to get. I chose a simple curved barbell with pink and white swirl balls on it.
Thursday morning comes and I head to the doctors office (about an hour away from where I am staying) When I get there the receptionist tells me that the doctor is an hour or so behind with regular patients and that I will have to wait till Friday, I am a bit aggravated at this point because this means that I have wasted two hours worth of driving for nothing. But I really dont complain much because I know she could easily turn around and say she isnt going to do it.
Friday morning I went to the doctors office with my ring and when I got there the nurse took the ring to go sterilize it and told me that it would be a few minutes as the doctor was still seeing patients. They made my mother sign no papers or anything which was pretty illegal since I am a minor, but I suppose so is the whole under the table thing. After about a half hour I got called back and the doctor came into the room. She marked on my tummy where she thought that the piercing should go. I was happy with this so she told me to sit down and explained rather quickly what she was going to do, and how to clean it, ect. She told me to lie down, I did, and then she put iodine on my tummy to clean it (this tickled!). She messed around with this long plastic thing that had a needle inside of it for a few minutes then told me she was about to put the needle in. I didn't really watch the rest or pay attention to it as I don't like knowing that someone else is poking me with a needle that id be just fine doing myself! It didnt hurt much just felt weird, it all happened pretty fast. After she told me to get up and look at the piercing, I liked it. She again went quickly through care instructions and left the room. The whole process after I got called back took about five minutes even though it seemed like eternity. I later realized that my piercing is a little crooked when I am standing up, but I am still happy with how it looks. :)
I wasn't very happy with the whole matter though, after coming back to where we were staying that night I found out that quite a few things she told me on how to clean it were incorrect. For example, she told me to use alcohol to clean it, which every site I went to said this is bad. She also told me to use peroxide if it gets infected; again, I have read from several places that this is incorrect. I have had my piercing for a week and a half now and I enjoy it, and have figured out what I think are the proper procedures for cleaning it and it seems to be doing well. But I would suggest to go to a place that does *Legal* piercing for this sort of thing as I got a ton of wrong information, and the whole matter was pretty unprofessional of a doctor. Also, places that actually do piercings on a regular basis I am assuming for the most part are clean (or else they would be shut down), they also deal with this kind of thing all the time so they know what they are doing instead of giving incorrect information.