It was a hot summer afternoon and I was headed with a friend to her friends house to get my nipples pierced (and her bellybutton). I had been excited about the prospect of getting my nipples pierced because at the time I had only my ears pierced at a 12 gauge. Why to a friends house for a piercing? The answer is because I was under the age of 18 and I knew no reputable studio would pierce me without one of my parents permission and neither of my parents would have any part of me "putting holes in my body." So I did what any rebellious and rash teenager would do, find someone who will do it without my parents involvement!
At A Glance Author MemoryLane Contact MemoryLane@bme.anon When Five years ago Artist She said he was: "A friend of a friend who pierces!" Studio A broken couch in an upstairs apartment. Location Garden Grove, CA The solution to my problem came when a friend told me she knew a guy who pierced "or something" and was "really good" and the price I was quoted was sensational. I did not think at first where we would be going or who this guy was who had agreed to pierce an underage kid, but I didn't give a fuck; I wanted my nipples pierced. When we arrived at the guys house I began to get a bit nervous because it was less than sanitary in the small living room where we stood and I didn't see any room or space set up for the procedure he was about to perform on my body. But still, I wanted the piercings so I blocked out the bad thoughts and reminded myself that I knew everything and that everything would be cool. Thankfully, the guy put on a pair of latex gloves a began to set up his instruments and various cleaning agents on a tray covered with the blue paper I had seen at other piercers and doctors offices. He asked me to take off my shirt and sit on the couch, I did as I was told and he began.
First, he put a clamp on my right nipple, which pinched but didn't hurt too badly, and then made two small pen marks on either side of my aureola. As he was making the placement for the needle I asked, "So, how long have you been piercing?" His question was a mild a detached "Oh I don't pierce, I do tattoo's at ..... (left out for privacy) but I know how to pierce." No sooner had he finished his sentence when a "here was go" was bellowed and the needle was pushed through my first nipple. The pain was not as bad as I had thought and I smiled, relieved the tension of waiting was over but I still had one more nipple to be pierced. I had been told in the days up to my piercing escapade that one nipple always hurts more when it is pierced and with the piercing of my left nipple I knew what I had been told was true. As soon as the needle went through I began to see purple and black splotches and the room started to fade away. The guy laid me down on the couch and his girlfriend brought me a glass of water. After a few minutes I felt better and he began to struggle with attaching the bead to the hoop. After what seemed like hours of endless torture of pulling on my tender piercings the beads were both on and small droplets of blood began to form at the site of the piercing. The weeks after found my piercings healing well and looking good except I noticed that the holes went very deep through my aureola and under the nipple but I was too happy with them to think much about proper placement.
The year to follow would show how foolish it was for me to do what I had done. My nipple piercings would not heal properly! One week they would look and feel great and the next week they could be red, swollen, extremely tender, and bursting with pus and no ointment, liquid, or any other concoction would help my suffering. After a year had passed I finally went in to Rocket Three in Laguna Beach, CA to get advice from master piercer Eddy Bean. Mr. Bean told me the piercings were not only crooked but far too deep under the entire nipple area and they were both very infected. In his words I was "butchered." Needless to say I removed the piercings after one last battle for healing.
I now know why there are age limits for people who want to be pierced. I may have been mature enough to decide to get pierced but I ignored the most important aspects of piercing, like finding a clean studio with a reputable piercer who knows how to pierce. Indeed all body mods should be done by a professional in a completely sanitary place be it a studio or a room in a house (I do advise against ever going to a person's house unless he or she is a professional with a studio setup en suite. And this isn't a new idea or a difficult one to understand yet I, still being an intelligent person, overlooked the most important issues of body modification. Because I wasn't old enough to recognize those aspects I don't think I should have been getting pierced at all and today my nipples are still a little misshapen and scarred but I did learn an important lesson (the hard way) about the other aspects of being pierced besides, "I want to."