From the first time I saw a quad-navel piercing, I knew that I simply HAD to have it done myself. I had my top navel done about three years ago, and the bottom done about a year and a half ago. I wanted to be able to have both sides done at the same time, because for some reason lack of symmetry bothers me. Unfortunately, there was one important factor standing in my way: cash.
At A Glance Author Candace Contact Candace@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Erik Studio Scarred For Life Location Boulder, CO So after about a year of telling people what I wanted to do, but explaining that "right now I just don't have 80 bucks to spare," my best friend's younger sister saved the day. She told me about a place that does piercings on Wednesdays for $10 each (above the waist only). After doing a tiny bit of research, I found that this place was only 5 minutes from where I work.
With the monetary problem out of the way, there was only one slight hitch in my grand scheme ... I work weekdays, and my boss would be none too thrilled to hear that I needed to take a long lunch in order to add two piercings to myself. But as luck would have it, I ended up having a court date (for a car accident that was my stupid fault) on a Wednesday. On the spur of the moment, as I was heading home from court, I saw a piercing shop and it was like a light went off inside my head. "Hey, it's Wednesday and you're not at work. Go get pierced!"
The timing was perfect. The shop opened at 3:30, and it was 3:00 when I got my bright idea. I made it to the shop about 15 minutes before opening, and just sat in my car reading while I waited. During the next 15 minutes about a half a dozen other people showed up to wait as well. (Let me add here that although I was the 1st one there, as I find that people are generally rude in nature, I was the last one thru the door. Grrrr!)
I was also the last one make it to the counter, pay (side note: it was $15 each, not $10), and let them know what I wanted done. Thankfully I had a book with me; otherwise I would have gone out of my mind with boredom.
Finally I was called back into the piercing room. I explained what I wanted, and Erik told me that per policy of the shop, he's supposed to use hoops for every piercing that he does. He continued to say that he wanted to measure me, and then instead of putting the hoops in, he would use PTFE to make some barbells he could use. I told him that would be awesome, as I was not thrilled with the idea of having two hoops to go along with the spikes I had in my top and bottom piercings. So he did some measuring and marking, and then I went back into the lounge area for a few minutes while he made the jewelry.
He called me back and re-did all the marks in order to make sure that he was getting the two sides perfectly lined up. He had me look in the mirror and confirm that they looked to be in the right place. I took the jewelry out of my other two piercings so they wouldn't be in the way, and then laid down on the table and prepared for the first needle.
I wasn't nervous at all, as the previous two had been practically painless. But as he began to push the needle through, I realized this was going to be slightly different. Because the tissue on the sides of the belly button is a bit different from the tissue on the top and bottom, and there is more tissue to go through, it seemed to be more painful than the first two. Nothing that I couldn't handle, and as soon as Erik had the jewelry in place, the pain lessened dramatically. He quickly finished the second side, put my jewelry back on the top and bottom, cleaned me up, and I was good to go.
I stood in front of the mirror and examined my new piercings, and all I could think was how freaking cool my belly button looked. One side had swollen just a little bit, but I could still see what a great job Erik had done in making sure these piercings had perfect placement.
He advised me to take some ibuprofen every four hours to keep the swelling down, and said that sea salt soaks and green tea soaks would be best for cleaning, as well as using anti-bacterial soap once a day. I had never heard of the green tea as a soak before, but after doing them for this past month, I'm convinced.
Before I left, Erik asked if he could take a picture of the finished product, to which I happily obliged. He did a great job, and it was awesome that he wanted to be able to show other people.
These two piercings are healing much better than the last two did. For some reason I have a hard time healing from any kind of wound; be it a simple cut or scrape I usually scar. This is why I have to be especially careful when I comes to taking care of my piercings. So while the sea-salt, green tea, and soap have been very effective, I've decided to go and get some colloidal silver to apply a few times a day. It'll be nice to have something that I can use when I'm unable to sit and do a soak for 10-20 minutes, but still need to clean it.
All in all, I love the way my belly button looks. I can't wait until it's fully healed and I can start playing around with jewelry. The two sides will be easier to find jewelry for, as the standard length of a curved barbell will work. With the other two, I have to order 8mm barbells online.
Now if only I didn't have a job that prevents me from having visible piercings ... as soon as I'm able to make a living elsewhere, my lip and nose are next.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to email me. And once I'm all healed and I start playing around with the jewelry, I'd be happy to provide pics. Just let me know!