Every since my junior year of high school I have wanted my nipples to be pierced. To this day I can not explain why, maybe because a drummer I respect has one or maybe it is a rebellion against my socially conservative parents well let me rephrase that my anti- piercing parents. Whatever the reason, this urge to get a nipple piercing has stuck with me. I went to a conservative Long Island boarding school that frowned upon piercing and being the rule abiding citizen that I am I decided against doing it in high school.
At A Glance Author Patrick C Contact Patrick C@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Arron Studio Tribal Ways Location Boston Once I went off college the urge to get a nipple piercing increased. I decided to make it a reward for meeting my goal of losing weight. Every since the end of high school I have been overweight and at the end of my sophomore year. I decided to do something about it so I joined weight watchers and dropped 17 ponds and had my left pierced at home. Two weeks later the piercing was ripped out at a Megadeth concert. I decided to forget about the piercing idea for a while. During my junior year I gained a lot of weight and my joint problems returned. I restarted Weight watchers and worked hard all summer and dropped the weight and that brings us to my current nipple piercing. The reason I felt it was important to include the information about my weight and also my conservative upbringing is because it sets the context that allows a reader understand why this piercing is so special to me.
Tribal Ways is a studio that has pierced several of my friends and all of them had very good results. When I got back to school I booked an appointment for Sept 20th at 3:30. For the entire week leading up to that Friday I was nervous as hell because the experience of my left nipple was not pleasant and hurt like hell. After getting thoroughly lost with my girlfriend we made it to Tribal Ways at 4:00. Tribal Ways is a very professional studio and everyone there is friendly and knowledgeable. After arriving and filling out the prerequisite paper work I sat around talking with the staff. About 15 minutes later Stephan the co-owner of the shop went over the aftercare with me. It is your stock aftercare with a few modifications due to my extremely sensitive skin salt Soaks and very gentle soap and Bactine for a bit. Once the aftercare was described it was back to waiting again for another 15 to 20 minutes while a man got a PA. Finally it was my turn. The area was cleans ed with soap and water, some sort of chemical cleaner, and finally a bit of cold alcohol. Arron marked the area and had me look in the mirror to see if I liked the placement. The marks were dead on and after that the clamps were attached and I started breathing on the count and when we hit the agreed upon number bam the needle went through. There was quick burning pinch followed by the ring being put in and the bead being attached. After staring at in the mirror for a while the shirt was put back on and it was off to dinner.
The healing went well with only a few mild hiccups along the way. I sea-salt soaked regularly and cleaned it with the mild soap. It did due to my own error end up getting mildly infected when I went on a camping trip and was unable to clean it, but with aggressive treatment it cleared up in a few days. There were a few more battles with the healing ring due to my love of heavy metal concerts and the fact that I live in the mosh pit, but I have discovered a tip nothing works better than duct tape and surgical gauze. However, one must be careful because it will rip out all of your chest hair. Now 7 month later the ring is at 12 gauge ½ inch diameter and I am quite happy with it. It has quit discharging and has not rejected or migrated, which thrills me since due to my very active lifestyle has been subject to various traumas ranging from concerts to other "contact" sports" and it has always held up well. I do not recomend going to concerts and trying to heal a nipple pi ercing, but I was lucky.
I am debating what to pierce next. The left one? A PA? A frenum? The choices are daunting and I want them all, but that is another story. As for Tribal ways I would recommend it to anyone who lives in the Boston area and wants a clean friendly place to get a piercing. They just recently did my girlfriends navel and she has been quite happy with the results. I thank the people who took the time to read this experience.