My breasts are big (F cup), and have always been big, which has led to a lot of unwanted attention. A result of them being too big and saggy, and causing men to stare at me was that I hated them; I hated the way they looked and the way they made me feel about myself. I wanted them to be smaller but didn't want surgery, and exercising did no good. I didn't know what I could do to accept them, so pushed it to the back of my mind and tried to forget about it.
At A Glance Author wolfbane Contact wolfbane@bme.anon IAM wolfbane When Two years ago Artist Ruth Location Bath A few years later a friend and me were chatting about the perceptions we have of our bodies and the subject of my breasts came up. She said that she really liked my boobs and could quite happily play with them all day. She also said that she had one nipple pierced and wanted to get the other done, but was nervous and would I go with her. I agreed, and then had a brainwave; I'd get my nipples pierced at the same time. I wasn't frightened of needles whereas she was, so I'd go for moral support and show her that if I could get both done in one sitting then she would definitely be able to get one.
A friend of ours, a piercer who had already done my labret, agreed to pierce our nipples. She didn't have a studio so the piercing was to take place in her kitchen. We walked over to her house one weekend and chilled out for a bit; chatting and listening to music. Being a friend Ruth didn't charge much for piercings and more often that not accepted something instead of cash as payment. For this piercing I paid Ruth in goods; a pair of New Rocks which were too small for me, in fact. I figured it was a pretty good exchange; I got two new piercings, and a top, in exchange for a pair of boots which made my feet bleed. We were both pleased. After talking for a while the air become more tense and I broached the subject with a 'Well, shall we get on with it?'. We moved into the kitchen watched as she sterilised the area and the equipment. First was the counter; wearing gloves she wiped it over with a piece of kitchen paper, sprayed it with disinfectant and wiped it down again. She then lay out the equipment, placing it all on some sheets of kitchen paper. The clamps were placed in a small steel bowl of sterilising agent, as were the BCRs which I was to be pierced with. Two needles, still in their packaging, were placed next to the bowl. Gloves were removed, I was turned to and told to sit on the chair.
I won't deny that I was nervous. I fully expected this to hurt; I knew a few people who had them done and they had told me they were painful, more painful even that hood piercings. As I sat on the chair and removed my t-shirt I was wondering why on earth I was doing this.
Ruth and Laura grinned as the t-shirt came off. They both love boobs, and like I said mine aren't the smallest. Seeing their jaws drop and evil glints appear in their eyes made me feel somewhat better. Gingerly I removed my bra. My nipples seemed to have realised what was going on and had gone into hiding. Ruth grinned at me, snapped on a pair of gloves and began playing with them to get them erect; Laura stood in front of me beaming like all her birthday had come together at once. I sat there, slightly bemused, definitely embarrassed, shaking with laughter.
Eventually my right nipple was ready to be pierced. Ruth marked two dots on either side of the nipple, making sure that they looked straight. She then removed one of the needles from its packaging and placed the clamps on my nipple. They were cold. There was a slight pinching from the clamps and I stared at the gleaming needle, poised right next to my skin. Ruth asked if I was ready. I grunted in reply.
'Take a deep breath' she said.
I breathed.
'And another'.
Breathed again.
'Another'.
'Ow!'
Laura looked at me in surprise; she has never known me to breath sharply when being pierced so exclaiming 'Ow' meant that it had really hurt. Ruth checked that I was ok; I was. She continued. She picked up one of the BCRs that had been sterilised and manoeuvred it through the hole the needle had made. I can't remember what that felt like. It may have hurt, I think the shock of being pierced blocked it out though. Ruth clipped the ball into the ring and stood back. I hadn't bled much, though my nipple was red and slightly swollen.
'You still want to get the next one done?' She asked.
I nodded. I didn't think that I would back out if I decided to postpone the piercing, but I wanted to get them both done at the same time. Plus I'd already felt the pain of the first one; I was sure I could handle it.The next piercing was exactly the same. Ruth changed gloves and once getting my nipple erect she clamped it, pierced it and got the BCR in. I can't remember the second piercing at all. I don't think I made a noise that time, though I can't be certain. I don't think it hurt as much as the first one either, but again I'm not sure. Once the piercings were complete and jewellery in she taped kitchen paper to both nipples and, somewhat hesitantly, I put my bra back on. That was a strange experience; it didn't hurt as the nipples were cushioned by padding, but I was definitely aware that the piercings were there. Getting the t-shirt on was easier, and that was it; I was done.
Describing what the needle felt like being pushed through my skin is something that not even I can do. It felt strange. Definitely painful, but the pain didn't last long; it was more of a very quick jabbing sensation which stopped almost immediately. Of course with hindsight it's easy to say that things don't hurt as much as they did at the time. Telling people about my nipple piercings now the first thing they ask is if it hurt. My honest answer is yes, but I can't remember it that much. I don't know if they believe me, but there's nothing else I can say.
After leaving Ruth's I walked to the flat of the boy I was casually seeing (shagging) at the time. I told him about my nipple piercings and he wanted to look. I didn't let him as I didn't want to remove the paper so soon after the piercing, but he did grab a good hold of my boobs and it didn't hurt. I was surprised as I'd expected any movement or pressure to cause me a bit of pain, but they were fine. A few hours later I got home, removed the paper and washed the piercings in a sea salt solution. I did that twice a day for the first month or so, and my nipples healed pretty quickly, causing me no problems.
About 8 months after getting my nipples pierced I met my current boyfriend. He was taken with the piercings, and I enjoyed having them played with, but after a couple of months I noticed a problem with them; the piercings were starting to migrate. Even worse they were becoming infected. I don't know what caused them to go from being happily healed to painfully sore. All I can assume is that my boyfriend aggravated them by licking them too much, or that they hadn't properly healed and his saliva had caused them to become infected. The got worse very quickly. It seemed like every day they had migrated upwards and outwards a bit further. My right nipple was more painful than the left; more swollen, definitely more tender, and very red. It seemed to migrate more slowly than the left as well.
I reverted back to my original healing method and soaked them with warm sea salt solutions twice a day. It didn't seem to do much good. After a few weeks the left one had migrated so much that I took it out; there was only a small piece of skin keeping it in and it seemed pointless to have it looking like that. Stupidly I decided to leave the right one in, thinking that it would get better. It didn't. I had banned my boyfriend from playing with my nipples but nothing seemed to work. The piercing migrated more until one day, when I was in work, I leaned over my desk and swore; I had a sharp pain in my right nipple and I figured something had gone wrong. I went to the toilets, undid my bra to see my nipple bleeding profusely, the BCR hanging by a thread. It seemed that I had managed to catch it on something, partially ripping it out of my nipple. I cleaned up the blood and somewhat dejectedly walked back to my desk. Of course the girls I worked with wanted to know the gory details, but I was still trying to work out what had caused them to reject so badly, so long after having been pierced.
Today you can hardly see that I've had my nipples pierced. The right one has a scar running through the centre from where the piercing was ripped out; the left has two tiny holes where the piercing was, which haven't quite closed up. My nipples are fine; the only problem I have is that some lymph seems to seep out of the left one. I noticed it a month or so ago; a white, fairly rubbery substance that comes out of the two holes. It doesn't smell, doesn't hurt and the nipple isn't infected. All I can assume is that it's my body slowly healing itself up and there's nothing to worry about.
That experience hasn't put me off nipple piercings; I will be getting more done, but will wait until the problem with the left nipple has cleared up. Next time I will be getting pierced with a barbell rather than BCRs – apparently barbells are better for those of us with large breasts; we'll see.