Nipples from Hell
At A Glance Author Aaysha Contact Aaysha@bme.anon Artist Wolf Studio Enchanted Ink Location Boulder, CO This experience is written one year and one month in retrospect from the day I got both of my nipples pierced. I have waited so long to put it all into words for several reasons. First, this was a problematic piercing from just about the very beginning, and I wasn't sure exactly if, or for how long, I would keep them. I tried a few different things for aftercare—out of desperation—and wanted to see how each of them would work in the long term. Suffice it to say that I still have both, and in general (although not 100 percent of the time even now) they are behaving well and not causing too much heartache and grief. I've chosen to write this hoping that my experience will help someone else with troublesome aftercare.
I got both my nipples pierced on the same day at Enchanted Ink in Boulder, CO in June of 2000. I was very nervous about it, because I remembered having heard screams from the next cubicle where an unknown guy was getting one of his nipples done, several years earlier, when I got my nostril pierced at another shop. So, I had been traumatized. But I took a deep breath and went ahead. I had been studying for some extremely important exams, reading plays by Federico Garcia Lorca for a couple weeks solid before this. If you know anything about Lorca, there's a lot of "milkless breasts" and such associated with his work—so, the whole idea of "boobs" was on my mind...they're for more than nursing babies, right (hehehe)? Anyway, I can't recommend enough the cleanliness and sterility of this shop, and the knowledge of the staff seems at more than an adequate level, but I have since had issues with one of the owners. I think it was due to a lack of communication, but I still feel belittled in a way, and don't plan on ever going back again. I'd prefer to go out of state even before going back to them. Suffice it to say that she understood something I never meant, I tried to apologize, and then jumped all over me via e-mail. So there ya' go—make your own decisions. I trusted them, asked their opinion about several issues, bought all my jewelry from them, brought them chocolates as a "thank-you" for a job well done, and then got attacked verbally. No thanks.
Getting back to the piercings. Nipples, for me, were NOT easy piercings to heal. The left one even migrated some, although through conscious effort I stopped it. At first everything seemed OK, but several factors affected the aftercare process in a very negative way:
1) Stress. I could tell when I was under a lot of pressure, even if I felt emotionally in control to the best of my ability at the time, because my nipples would swell around the entrance and exit holes, form little pockets of lymph, ooze, get scabby, and be sore. I was in the process of taking my Ph.D. exams, so yeah, I was suffering a stress from which there was really no escape, except for allowing it to run its course. If you get your nipples pierced, allow yourself a good six months of "non-stress" time—really.
2) Boyfriend saliva. Even after months and months, every time my boyfriend and I would play with them a little, I had to rinse them with water right afterwards, or else they would get irritated again.
3) Car shoulder straps (seat belt). I drove 14 hours out and then back again to visit family. The strap cuts across the nipple area on me, at least. I had to wear it off under my arm, not across my chest.
4) A change in water. I had no idea that this would happen, but chlorine and other chemical levels seem to vary substantially from state to state. Bottled, purified water is best while traveling. Besides all the goriness described earlier, the "girls" got itchy and burny while I was out of state.
5) Any bra at all. I'm not super busty, so I don't wear heavy-duty bras with seams and padding, but even the filmy, sheer ones I wear seemed to cause trouble. I sucked it up and went braless for months.
6) Jog-bra. To this day, a tight jog-bra still causes problems. I went out and bought a larger one.
7) Several types of soaps. I went from Dr. Bonner's (very diluted—my piercer's recommended aftercare) to Dove to Neutrogena and ended up at just a basic, non-scented, non-medicated, non-anything glycerin soap. But it dries out your skin, so use diluted and not often. I only used it once a day.
So what worked? Sea salt soaks twice a day, religiously, and washing with that glycerin soap once a day or even once every other day, combined with the best aftercare product ever—VITAMIN E oil. Oh my god! It was a lifesaver. I used it twice a day after soaks or cleaning. You get the lowest IU you can find (100 is good), open the capsule, and use one or two tiny drops to massage into the irritated places. I noticed a difference after three days. This was the best thing I tried. It was at my piercer's suggestion, so I must commend her on that.
So, after all this time, how have the nippies fared? They still get lymph pockets at least once a month or so. I think it corresponds to my menstrual cycle. I am still soaking with sea salt, although not twice every day. My piercer told me that those little "lymph pimples" can be signs of slight tears in the piercing canal, but I have never done anything rough with my nippies. I've never noticed a twinge of pain, like tearing flesh, which preceded any problem. So, I don't know about that. They can tend to bleed a little when the "lymph pocket" pops. Obviously, they are still not completely healed. I stretched up to 10g (from an original 12), thinking that perhaps the wire was too thin. I have tried a larger diameter ring, thinking that there could be some pinching going on. I have done everything I can think of—spent lots of money on titanium jewelry, as well as lots of time and effort. I have to say that the Ti rings as well as the Vit. E have been the best moves, outside of soaks.
So if you want to do this, go ahead, but just be prepared. It can be an awful lot of work to keep nipple piercings—I'm still working on it over a year later!