Well here is my update. Hopefully this will be of use to someone.
At A Glance Author Riouxx Contact Riouxx@bme.anon When Three months ago Studio 360 Blues & Tattoos Location Arlington, TX. I have never been a person who was necessarily into stretching. Granted, I only have a couple of piercings, but I liked them just the way they were. Increasing the size, just for the sake of increasing them never appealed to me at all.
I had my nibbles done about 2 years ago and instantly fell in love with them. Before that I was always one of those guys before that didn't like much nipple play; at least not in my direction. At the time, I was of the belief that male nipples were pretty useless. But once I got them pierced, that all changed. The sensitivity level shot through the roof. I am sure that aesthetically I was very pleased as well. In other words, maybe I liked them being played with more just because I thought they looked better after being pierced. Either way, I really enjoyed the feel, as well as the look.
They healed normally from what I could tell, but there was always a problem with the right one. The left was great after just a few months, but the right never would seem to heal properly. I didn't treat either any different from the other. The only difference between the two at all was that the right was pierced a little bit deeper than the left. Not by a lot, but a little. They were both done with a 14 gauge SSS CBR. The right one was also not abused in any way. It just wouldn't heal. Even after almost 2 year, I had a lot of crusties and semi-regular discharge. I thought of taking it out many times. But I REALLY wanted to keep them, so I always decided to give it "just a few more days".
Well a few weeks ago, I had to take them out to have an MRI. I had never removed them so I stopped off at the shop where I originally had them pierced and asked an artist to help me remove them. He did so and showed me how to get them back in after the MRI so they wouldn't close up (as many of you know nipples close very quickly). So I went to get the MRI, and then put them back in afterwards but couldn't get the beads to stay in place. So I headed back to the shop.
Once there I was discussing with them that the right one was still giving me problems and that I was very frustrated. They asked if I had considered changing the jewelry. I remembered reading a few articles about how jewelry shape and gauge can really affect a piercing and how it heals, so I agreed. And since we were going to change the jewelry I thought that I might as well go ahead and gauge up a size to see if that helped as well. I made a promise to myself that if this didn't at least help, that I would take the right one out, let it heal and just start over. The stretching was pretty uneventful. My artist slid the taper through the right nipple. It hurt. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach, but it wasn't overpowering. He went much slower with the taper than he had with the original needle. He threaded the new jewelry into place and tightened the ball. I readied myself for a bit of pain as he started to slide the taper through the left one, but I barley felt it. Not even when he positioned the jewelry. The proved to me that the right one was indeed not healed. I went from a 14 gauge CBR to a 12 gauge curved barbell, and life has been great ever since.
That simple change, and about two weeks of healing time was all it took to finally heal the right nipple. I simply can't believe the difference. No discharge. No crusties to speak of. It is simply amazing. So, the moral of my story is, if you have a piercing that isn't doing well, there are options to just taking it out. Get the opinion of a professional and see if different jewelry will help, or if stretching is an option. I am glad I did. I now know that I don't have to start over. And the play can continue without me having to worry if I have a discharge on that side. Thanks for listening, and I hope this helps at least someone realize that you don't have to give up a piercing just because it is being a pain. I am SO glad that I didn't give in all those times that I wanted to. Not only did I not want to start over, but I didn't want to be lopsided while I was waiting. Thankfully none of that happened. Good luck to everyone.