I had wanted a piercing for years. I had always been too afraid to get one, not only because of the pain, but because I wanted to live. If my dad ever saw me with a belly button ring I would be a dead man... or girl...
At A Glance Author anonymous When Five years ago Artist I forget his name Studio Immortal Ink Location Southington, CT But that all changed the summer of my sophomore year of college. I was home for the summer, working, making lots of money, going through a "wilder" phase, and didn't really care what people thought about me. My best friend and her boyfriend at the time were going to get some stuff done. She was going to get her belly button pierced, and he wanted a tattoo of a sword or something war like. Anyway, I went for moral... and physical... support. I walked in, saw all the cute little belly button rings, and decided at the last moment I would get one done.
The guys at Immortal Ink were all very nice. They reassured me that the pain would be quick and then be over, that I would love it, and that they would do everything they could to make me comfortable. Plus, the guy that pierced me was wicked hot... that definitely helped! Haha! My best friend let me go first. "Gee thanks!" I guess she figured if I got it done first, I was less likely to back out when she screamed. Which she definitely did... and I definitely would have! And I think she cut off circulation in my hand. Haha!! Great! They drew the little dot on my belly button and showed it to me in a mirror. It looked pretty good. I was wicked excited. Then they pierced it....
I wasn't so excited anymore.
It was not as simple and painless as everybody had assured me!!! First of all, they were having a wicked hard time getting the ring in the new hole (i chose a loop one instead of a straight bar). So it was bleeding everywhere. Awesome! Then when I looked in the mirror, not only was it bright red (obviously), but it was a little crooked!!! The hole wasn't straight.
For the first couple of weeks I tried moving the ring to the left a little, figuring that if I kept pushing it over, it would heal straight. But it just hurt way too much and after a little while I gave up.
That wasn't the end of it... my piercing got infected. I cleaned it every day, multiple times, but it didn't seem to matter. For about 4 months, my belly button was so swollen that I couldn't even really move the ring anymore to clean it.
It was constantly pussing, and there was a huge bump which looked like a blood blister right underneath the top "lip" of my belly button... probably the most disgusting thing that's ever happened to me. I couldn't sleep on my stomach for an entire summer, and I was too self conscious to put on a bikini. Not to mention the pain was horrific!!!!!
I remember one day at work I had a white shirt on. I was walking down to the cafeteria to get some water, and one of my co-workers passed me. She was like, "Hey, I think you got something on your shirt." I looked down, and sure enough! At first I thought maybe I spilled salad dressing on myself or something, but oh no! There was a puss stain the size of a quarter right in the middle of my shirt. It was absolutely disgusting.
I had to wait longer than my best friend to change my ring. I don't think I switched it until about 5 months after getting it. And once I did, the new ring re-infected it. About 7 months after I got it pierced, my belly button was finally back to normal.
It looks adorable, and I love it now. I have tons of cute little rings I use, and my boyfriend loves to play with it. I am in fashion, and I have different rings to match a ton of my outfits. I especially like the dangly ones... but that's not really the point of this story. The point is that as much as I like it now,I still don't think that if I went back in time, I would ever do it again. It was too much effort, pain, and discomfort for it to be worth it a second time over.
I don't know if it was the studio's fault, or my own. I mean they were very clean, and did everything they were supposed to, and I cleaned it constantly. Maybe my body just rejected a foreign object. But whatever happened, it was probably the most painful 7 months I will ever endure in my life.
The end.